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FRAGMENTS OF JACKSONISM, 

ALIAS 

CLANDESTINE VAN BURENISML 

At 

COMPRISED IN SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES TO THE THIRD EDITION 

or 

JACKSON'S AFFIDAVIT. 



THE 



AFFIDAVIT OF ANDREW JACKSON, 



TAKEN BY THE DETENDANTS 

I 



IN THE SUIT OF ROBERT MAYO vs. BLAIR & RIVES 



FOR A LIBEL, 



ANALYSED AND REFUTED. 



[THIRD KD1TION, WITH SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES.] 



BY HOB'ERT MAYO, M. D. 

AUTHUE OF SKETCHES OF EIGHT TEAIIS IN WASHINGTON, &.C. &.C. 



WASHINGTON CITY, D. C. 

PRINTED FOR THE PLAINTIFF. 

1S40. 



: 



ADVERTISEMENT TO" THE THIRD EDITION. 

Holding it to be an indisputable truth that every community is more or less interested in the reputation of 
every individual member thereof, and more particularly, that all questions affecting the character and vera- 
city of high official agents must be of vital concernment to the whole country, I could not hesitate a moment 
in making this publication, both for the information of this District, of which I am an humble constituent, and 
for that of the country at large, by which General Jackson has been so signally honored. Moreover, I 
maintain that, as the reputation of distinguished functionaries has always been justly viewed as public prop 
erty of the most sacred character, any act of self-debasement on their part should as decidedly arouse public 
indignation and grief, for such disgrace and forfeiture of its confidence, as a wanton and unfounded attack 
upon them from any quarter should be severely reproved and punished. Nevertheless, the humblest citizen 
may not, from a just veneration for those eminent men in general, dastardly 3ubmit to be trampled under foot 
by a recreant from their ranks, rather than hazard the enterprise of his full exposure to the merited reproof of 
that Public which had theretofore but too liberally cherished and 'honored his name; on the^omrary, it is 
equally the unalienable birthright and the conventional duty of the most insignificant u ■ember of the com- 
monwealth to stand up in his own defence, and shed around the moral influence of perhaps too rare an ex- 
ample, by resisting the unjust assaults of even the most highly-favored of his fellow-citizens; nor is it less the 
duty of his immediate community and of the country at large to hear and adjudge the grievances of which he 
complains. 

No man ever held the fame of Andrew Jackson at a higher value than did the undersigned, at a time 
when the public prints and every tongue were rife with the praises of his military achievements— when his 
conciliatory republican professions of political toleration, and the extermination of the monster .party spirit, 
were lauded by many of the best patriots of the land, as the results of a just and enlightened policy; or, when 
his pro rises to bring back the ship of state to its ancient tact, and to renew the strict discipline and simple 
economy of its crew by the operations of a salutary reform, were sincerely believed in by multitudes of nis 
deluded countrymen. But, when I found myself numbered among the many dupes of those professions and 
promises unredeemed— when I found myself and others treated with bad faith by General Jackson, in the 
suppression of a statement of information we were virtually commissioned to make, auxiliary to the purposes 
of that promised reform— and finally perceived that all those flattering professions and joyful hopes were with- 
ered up by the most selfish passions that contaminate the human breast, fostered by party intolerance and 
persecution, which commits robbery, and by party favoritism and corruption, which distributes " the spoils," 
both regardless of the good of the public service,'! determined to dissolve all connexion with this new jaco- 
bin sect, and to vindicate myself from the imputations unjustly thrown upon me on account of the error of 
my then position, into which I will fearlessly say, and prove, thai I was entrapped by the fair promises of 
action for the public good. Having made son:e progress in the performance of this task, from motives of 
public duty and personal justification, at great inconvenience and expense, I have been assailed by the foul- 
est calumnies, which were probably intended to withdraw my attentiun from my publications, and discredit 
them if persisted in, or, possibly, to drive me back into the ranks of that jacobin faction I proposed to ex- 
pose. A whipped cur may creep back into his former kennel, from a fear of further flagellation, or from a 
nope of the favors basely awarded to a fawning executive pel, but they who deal out these vile motives have 
never had reason to believe that either fsar or" temptation can operate upon me. To resist and expose this 
unholy alliance of a reckless faction of jacobins and gambling politicians, as well as to defend my personal 
character against the defamation which it is their traue to practise, I now declare myself a volunteer for and 
during the war. 

It was in part from the various considerations above recited, and others which will appear in the sequel, 
that I resolved to make this publication; which, being too voluminous for a newspaper communication, I was 
compelled to throw into the pamphlet form or abandon it altogether. To this latter alternative I could not 
be reconciled, even by the obstacle of inconvenient expense; for. 'however mortifying it is to be visited with 
calumny, and to grapple with it under any circumstances, it would be an infinitely greater evil quietly to lei 
it remain for a single day without repelling it. Had I the pecuniary ability, therefore, not only for the per- 
sonal interest involved to myself, my friends, and acquaintance, but for that of the whole community, in re- 
lation to the affiant, I would'most gladly place a copy of this exposition in the hands of every citizen of this 
vast republic, sorely aggrieved as it has been in mafty respects by a misplaced confidence in the same per- 
sonage, who has so far compromitied the disnity of his late official stations, to become the calumniator of an 
humble citizen. 

I cannot, then, easily believe that the Public will prove to be indifferent spectators on this affair from a 
mistaken supposition that it is il purely personal,'" which it surely is not; for, by so doing, may they not justly 
be considered as giving countenance and immunity to Executive abuses and oppression, which no man, prob- 
ably, could dare to resist hereafter, at the certain consequence of having his reputation destroyed by corrupt 
Executive calumny, whose refutation shall pass unheeded ! 

I might, then, forebode that, if this be not thefirst instance o( such a. resistance and exposure, it will surely he 
the last, upon the same principle that governed the officers in the customs at New York, and in the Treas- 
ury Department here, who carefully concealed the defalcations of Swartwout, under the various pretences 
that it was not their duty to reveal or expose them ; that their duty was to the collector and not to the United 
States, &.c; but in fact because they were slaves to their own cupidity, or to their bread, to their fears, or to 
their f.'lse notions of prudence and caution ! Such is the prostration to ichich the spirit of subordinate 
officers has been reduced by the iron will and domination of Andrew Jackson ! ! May Idle under ten 
thousand tortures before the insidious doubt should ever insinuate itself into my breast whether I too would 
not resign myself a victim to such a policy ' 

ROBERT MAYO 



-3- 



TO THE PUBLIC. 



More than nine years ago (that is, early in December, 1830) I addressed to General 
Jackson, then President of the United States, a letter, (see Appendix A,) "to be used in 
any way he might deem proper," giving him a detailed statement of General Houston's 
plans of organizing an expedition against the Mexican province of Texas, accompanied 
with a copy of his scheme of secret cryptographical correspondence, and referring to wit- 
nesses. 

In the fall of i 836, that original letter and cipher weie handed to me by the Presi- 
dent's messenger, in the routine of sundry other documents of mine returned to me 
through the same messenger, in pursuance, as I had every reason to suppose, of a stand- 
ing request from me to Major Donelson, the private secretary of the President, to have all 
my communications, letters, &c, hunted up* and returned to me, as soon as convenient, 
after all contemplated action had upon them — excepting any that might be retained by the 
President, of course. See Note [a.] in the Supplement. 

Such was the purport of my request, which was made in consequence of the inability 
of the private secretary to lay his hands upon such documents, in frequent instances, when 
called for by me in person ; and, as an evidence that it was so understood by Major Don- 
elson, I did receive at my lodgings many returns of documents in that way by the hands 
of the same messenger, which I now have in my possession, but are too voluminous to ex- 
hibit here, though they shall make their appearance in another publication. 

There was also a request and a promise to the same effect in behalf of a friend, then in 
Virginia, for the return of his documents, whose letters to me will not only establish the 
fact, but show that more than twelve months elapsed before his papeis were found ; and I 
believe it was the practice of General Jackson, or his private secretary, to return all com- 
munications with the evidences of action endorsed upon them, or accompanying them, 
when there was no reason assigned for withholding them ; and, more particularly about 
the close of hi3 administration, I have reason to believe this practice was very general, and 
that probably the letter returned to Mr. Van Buren about that time, wherein the writer 
had urged on the President his objections to the appointment of Samuel Swartwout as col- 
lector of the customs at New York, is an eminent instance. The Richmond Enquirer is 
the organ through which the public was informed of the restoration of that letter : perhaps 



* This function of hunting up documents and letters called for was certainly sometimes intrusted to the 
President's messeneer, as I occasionally understood from Major Donelson himself, when he would promise 
me to have such as he could not readily lay hands on for me searched for by the messenger and sent to me. 
And I believe many other persons are acquainted with the fact, or at least are of the imprf ssion, that the 
President's messenger was the principal conservator of his files. [Such is the case, in some degree, with 
messengers in several of the Departments.] Whether he discharged that function faithfully, fell short of, or 
exceeded his duty, the President and his private secretary ought to be the best judges. Whenever he brought 
a package to me,'l questioned not the authority by which he brought it ; and as they were in every instance 
my own, accompanied only with the President's action upon them, whether satisfactory or not to my 
views and wishes, I considered the matter, so far, as final, and was then left to my discretion and choice 
what use I should again make of them ; and, as an evidence of this, in some instances I would recommit the 
sa.ne document to the President, with a request to reconsider his decision : which fact can be substantiated 
at a proper lime by the documents themselves. I will barely make the sugseslion here, that General Jack- 
son, except for the malignant temperament of his mind, would in all probability have supposed that Major 
Donelson, in returning me my papers, inadvertently sent the copy also of his letter to Fulton, filed as it was 
in the same package with my letter on Houston's conspiracy as evidence of his action upon it ; or, indeed, 
if it were evidence of satisfactory action, he never would have considered it worth a rush to make a clamor 
about its publication, much less have made a labored argument of falsehoods to give color to a most improb- 
able supposition ; which seems rather to suppose that he stands self-condemneiT as to the hypocritical sub 
terfuge of the letter to Fulton, and is himself the author of the libel on me, as a revenge for the publication 
cf that letter, with a commentary unmasking the duplicity of its object. 



ihe editor of that paper knows something more of the practice and policy of returning or 
retaining communications. In addition to these instances, and the mass of such docu- 
ments so returned to me and now in my possession, it is probable I shall hereafter be en- 
abled to cite many others, to the same effect, as demonstrating the practice. 

The envelope of this original letter, so returned to me, bore this endorsation by the Pres- 
ident viz: "Dr. Mayo — on the contemplated invasion of Texas — private and confidential* — 
a letter to be written (confidential) to the Secretary of the T. of Arkansas, with copy of 
confidential letter to Wm. Fulton, Esq., Secretary of the T. of Florida.'''' Within that 
envelope was my original letter and the cipher above mentioned, with a single other doc- 
ument only, purporting to be a copy of a letter to Mr. Fulton, dated the 10th December, 
1830, showing the action of the President upon my aforesaid letter; which copy to Ful- 
ton bore this endorsement, viz: "(Copy) confidential — Wm. Fulton, Sec. of the T. of 
Florida — private and confidential;" and, on the inside, this copy is headed " sthictly 
coxfidkntial". Fro.:i these confused endorsements on these two documents, (that is, 
on the general envelope, and on the copy of the letter te Fulton,) it was, to my mind, a 
matter of doubt whether any such letter had been sent to the Secretary of Florida, as there 
was no such Secretary of Florida there named ; and no such letter has, in fact, ever been 
since alleged to have been sent to the Secretary of Florida: and, on the same account, it 
was equally worthy of doubt whether one had ever been sent to the Secretary of Arkansas, 
whose address was not clearly designated ; or, had such letters been sent, they were prob- 
ably falsely directed — otherwise, these endorsements would have been correctly made at 
first, or have been corrected afterwards. It appeared to me, therefore, upon examining 
this package, not only that it presented a singular confusion, but that it was possibly handed 
to me to show the action, whether sham or real, that had been taken upon it; there being 
probably no reason longer to keep it secret, as most of the facts had now become history, 
and upon which there might be no objection to the injunction of secrecy being removed; 
or, on the other hand, it seemed quite as probable that the fact of the copy of the letter 
to Fulton being in the package was inadvertently overlooked. But, under all the cir- 
cumstances, as the case presented itself to my mind, I concluded that, by whatever mo- 
tives this package was handed to me as the communicator of its principal contents to 
the President, they were perfectly immaterial to the course I deemed it proper for me to 
pursue in regard to it, since (perceiving the series of covert falsehoods reciprocally embra- 
ced in, and deducible from, both this copy to Fulton and the volume of diplomatic corres- 
pondence between the President of the United States and the Mexican minister on the 
same subject) I held myself bound, by a high paramount obligation to my country and to 
the world, to expose the whole matter, and at the same time to vindicate myself against 
the discredif indirectly thrown upon my statement of Houston's designs by the allegations 
of General Jackson in his letter to Fulton, ia which he says : " I am induced to believe, 
and hope, that the information I have received is erroneous ,■ that no movements have 
been made, nor have any facts been established, which would justify the adoption, of of- 
ficial proceedings against individuals implicated." I, therefore, unhesitatingly made it 
public in various ways, and exhibited a fac-sunile of the said letter in my recent publica- 
tion of " Eight Years in Washington" — which exposure, I now solemnly aver, I would 
have made had it been the last act of my life ! 

In consequence of some or all of these modes of publication, Messrs. Blair & Rives, in 
several issues of the Globe newspaper, charged me, by various modes of expression, with 
having purloined the said copy of General Jackson's letter to Mr. Fulton ; for which out- 
rage I instituted a suit against them, in the circuit court of the District of Columbia, for 
libel. Preparatory to the trial of this suit at the next November term of the court, the defend- 
ants have caused General Jackson's affidavit to be taken in justification of their charge. 
Upon being informed of the existence of that affidavit on record in the clerk's office*, at the 
present session of the court I immediately ordered a copy, and, after perusing its extraor- 
dinary contents, resolved that I would not submit to the foul calumny cast upon me a mo- 
ment longer than could possibly be avoided, but that I would lay the slanderous document 
immediately before the public in this form, with a brief analysis and refutation of it, lest any 
man, knowing of its existence, should pass from this stage of being before I should otherwise 
have it in my power to correct any supposition or belief that it was possible those imputa- 



* The character of " private and confidential" was assumed for this letter by General Jackson himself, 
and for motives best known to himself, without my request or knowledge, but expressly " to be used in any 
way he might deem proper.'' 



lions were true, and also that Geiieral Jackson, especially, should have the cailicel op- 
portunity of seeing his malignant faUehoods laid bare to the world.' 

I have ample reason to believe that there exists an abundance of facts in the possession 
of many of the most respectable citizens of this country, which, if they do not prove that 
General Jackson was habitually addicted to the perversion of truth, will at least prove that 
he is unceremonious in the perpetration of falsehood when he thinks it would serve his 
purposes of ambition or malice better than the truth. And I now make a solemn appeal 
to all such persons, as an act of justice to the public in general, and to the cause of truth, 
to furnish me with such facts as they may have in their possession, or can refer me to, 
between this time and the trial of the suit at the next November term of the court. 

The following is the affidavit in answer to six interrogatories, of which my business 
will be, for the most part, with the deponent's answer to the sixth. In attempting to show 
how I might have purloined the copy of his letter to Fulton, the deponent actually shows, 
upon every rational principle an'd practice in official or social intercourse, how it was 
morally impossible that I could have done the deed; and in urging, ugainst reason and 
fact, his made up recital and forced inference, he shows himself to be a. prejudiced wit- 
ness, and a partial partisan of the defendants, as will presently be demonstrated to the 
satisfaction of every intelligent and impartial person. 

INTERROGATORIES. 

Pit st Interrogatory.— Did you ever write and send to Win, Fulton, Secretary of the Territory of Arkansas, 

a letter of which the following is a copy? [See Appendix B, for the letter alluded to.] 
Second interrogator!/.— 'When did you write such a letter'! 
'third interrogatory. —Did Gov. Fulton acknowledge the receipt of such a letter? 

FovrtK interrogatory.— Did von take a copy of the letter when you wrote it, and what did you do with it? 
fifth interrogatory.— Did you ever give or 'deliver a copy of the letter you wrote Governor Fulton to Mr. 
Robert Mayo' . 

Sixth interrogator;/.- What eventually became of the copy? and, if you please, slate whatever else you 
may know respecting thrabove letter, and how it came into the possession of Robert Mayo. 
Interrogator;/ to be anstcered by A. J. Donelson, Esq. : 

Read the first of the interrogatories contained in the piper now handed to you, to which is annexed the. 
copy of a letter addressed by Gen, Andrew Jackson, late President of the United States, to Win. Fulton, Esq., 
dated Washington, December 10, 1830; and state whether you have any recollection of the original of that 
letter, and whether you have any knowledge of the manner in which it came into the possession of Robert 
Mayo, of Washington city I 

The depositfon of Gen. Andrew Jackson, late President of the United Slates, in the case of Robert Mayo 
vs. F. P. Blair and J. G. Rives, for libel, now pending in the Circuit Court of the District of Columbia for 
Washington county, Washington city, Distrkl of Coltiml ia, who, being duly sworn, deposelh and saith that 
he resides at lite Hermitage, in the county i f Davidson and State of Tennessee, about seven hundred and 
fifty miles from the city of Washington— 

To the first interrogatory 1 he answereth and saith, he did write and send to William Fulton, then Secretary 
if the Territory of Arkansas, a letter, of which the annexed to the interrogatory is a true copy. 

To the second interrogatory he answereih and saith, that he wrote that letter on the day and at the place it 
purports to be written ; that 'is to say, at Washington city, December the 10th, 1830. 

To the third interrogatory lie answereth and saith, that Gov. Fulton did acknowledge the rec ipt of that 
letter, and with it made a reporlofhis proceedings in pursuance of the request made in ray letter; which let- 
ter and report was placed on file, with the copy of my confidential letter to him of date the lUth of December, 
1830, and deposited in my confidential bureau in my office, from whence it was purloined. 

To the fourth interrogatory he answereih and saith, that he did take a copy of that, letter when he wrote it, 
and placed it in his confidential bureau in his office. 

To the fifth interroeatory he answereih and saith, that he never did deliver a copy of that letter he v.rote 
to Governor Fulton to Robert Mayo, or to any other person. 

To the sixth interrogatory he answereth and saith, [1] that the aforesaid letter was purloined from his of- 
fice, [2] together w ith the report of Governor Fulton made to him of [3] his investigation of General Houston's 
[4] meditated invasion of Texas, [5] which all proved fallacious, as appeared from Governor Fulton's re- 
port, [6] which report was placed with the copy of the confidential letter of the 10th of December, lS3f>, in 
my confidential draw, r in my office, from whence it was purloined, as he believes, by some one, [7] and he 
believes by Robert Mayo, the plaintiff in the cause now pending. For this belief affiant boss leave to state 
his [8] reasons: The plaintiff, Robert Mayo, had written him two [9] confidential letters, making serious 
charges against many of the clerks employed by the Government in Washington, in its various Departments. 
These confidential letters were [10] placed in my confidential drawer in my office, where [11] the copy of 
roy b'lter to Governor Fulton, then Secretary of the Territory of Arkansas, with his [12] reply and report, were 
deposited. After [13] receiving these confidential letters from Robert Mayo, the plaintiff, this deponent in-' 
formed him that he could [14] not, nor would not, take any measures against those clerks on his confidential 
complaints ; that he must furnish deponent with specific [15] charges, to which these clerks would be call- 
ed Upon to respond: that [16] all men were presumed to be innocent until guilt was established ; that [17] 
every man charged with crime, or acts that would affect his moral character, ought i" be heard in his own 
defence; and that he would [18] not act upon confidential and secret information .oiainst any one. Tha 
plaintiff, Rob< rt Mayo, in a few [19] days thereafter presented this deponent with a long [20] list of charges 
in writing asaiii3t a great manv clerks in the different Departments, which was forthwith [21] referred to 
the heads ofDepartments to be fully investigated, upon which [22] investieation Robert Mayo failed [23] 
to establish his charges made acainst anyone individual charged. Soon [24] after thisjull [25] investi- 
gation, Robert Mayo applied [26] to this deponent to withdraw these public charges ; deponent told him I o 
[27] might, as the charges beins made by him and not established, would, now being on my public files, de- 
stroy [28] him as a man of troth forever; and I referred him to my private secretary, Major A J. Donelson, to n Pt . 
ihem This4eponent was informed [29]by Robert Mayo and Major Donelson thai these public charges against 



t&e clerks were given up to him. A few- [30] days after the before-mentioned occurrence, the plaintiff, fior 
ert Mayo, applied [31] to this deponent, and requested that he, deponent, would return to him his two conn 
dential letters, 
placed in the c._ 
10th of December, ._ 

many [33] papers to find those requested by Robert Mayo to be returned, and lay them on his table, beside 
[34] which Robert Mayo was sitting. This deponent having found the two letters, [33] returned them to 
Robert Mayo, and told him for the future never to make charges against any one that he could not estab- 
lish. During [36J this search, deponent believes, Robert Blayo seeing [37] this letter marked " strictly con- 
fidential," purloined [38] it, as it never could be found, although diligent search had been made for it through 
all this deponent's papers, and in the Secretary of State and War Departments, at the time the ex-President, 
John Q.Adams, in Congress, made the call upon the Secretary of State for this correspondence ; nor was this 
letter ever heard of after, until it was produced in the House of Representatives and read by Mr. J. Q. Adams 
in his place as a member. This deponent further states that no [39] person was permitted to look into this con- 
fidential drawer but [40] his private secretary, Andw. J. Donelson, and Andrew Jackson, jr., when there ; who 
both have stated to this deponent that they, or either of them, never delivered or gave [41] a copy of (he said 
letter, marked strictly confidential, dated the lOtli day of December, 1830, and addressed to William Fulton, 
or to any other persons ; and this affiant knows [42] of no one who could have had [43] access to his private 
drawer in his office, or purloined this letter, but [44] Robert Mayo, the plaintiff, in whose possession this pur- 
loined letter was found, [45] and acknowledged [4b] by him to have handed to ex-President John Q. Adams, 
who used this said letter, marked " strictly confidential," in his speech in Congress. That this letter was 
purloined by some [47] person, this deponent doth verily believe ; and from the whole [48] circumstances, as 
set forth and stated, the purloined letter being [49] found >n the possession of Robert Mayo, and marked [50] 
strictly confidential ; and instead [51] of handing this letter to this affiant, which he [52] would and ought to 
have done had [53] it been handed to him by anyone, he, as it appears, handed it to the ex-President, Adams, 
to be used by him in Congress. This deponent does [54] believe that said letter was purloined [55] by Rob- 
ert Mayo, the plaintiff in this suit. 
This deponent not being further interrogated, saith not. 

ANDREW JACKSON. 

The deposition of A. J. Donelson, late private secretary of President Jackson, who being duly sworn, de- 
poseth and saith that he resides in the county of Davidson and State of Tennessee,' aboat seven hundred and 
fifty miles from Washington city— 

To the interrogatory addressed to him, this deponent answereth and saith, that he has a clew recollection 
of the letter referred to, and of the circumstances under which it was written by the President. The copy of 
the letter signed by the President, which was forwarded to Mr. Fulton, was in the hand-writing of this depo- 
nent, as he believes ; and this deponent also believes that another duplicate copy was taken to the War De- 
partment by one of the young gentlemen who had charge of the confidential paffersof the Secretary of War 
at that time. This deponent well remembers the answer made to this letter by Mr. Fulton, which was filed 
[56] with the original letter of the President. 

Robert Mayo, the plaintiff in this cause, was nevpr furnished by deponent with this original letter, nor with 
a copy of it, nor was any other individual ; and this deponent being no further interrogated, saith not. 

A. J. DONELSON. 

True copy. 

Test: IV M. BRENT, Clerk. 

Whoever has any acquaintance with the many gross injuries and annoyances I have 
received from a vile Jacobin Faction here, since I discovered their insidious revolutionary 
designs, and abjured their associations, can ibrm some estimate of the extreme felicita- 
tions that now thrill my bosom at having a grapple, as it were, arm to arm and face 
to face, with the great ^-responsible, to vindicate myself in, this new issue thus 
wantonly and unexpectedly thrust upon me — as it will, while it enables me to demolish 
the prime source of those grievous wrongs, necessarily have no small bearing upon the 
future development and proper understanding of the course I have pursued in the official 
skirmishes it has been my fortune to encounter with most of the Departments during the 
administration of that notorious personage, and indirectly with himself, over their shoul- 
ders, since I have been a resident of Washington ; in justification of which I had under- 
taken to publish a book, now progressing at the press, at an expense and loss of t'tne ex- 
tremely inconvenient, and aggravating to the embarrassments of every kind in which those 
injuries and annoyances have involved me. In the present hasty exposition, therefore, 
which I feel myself so unexpectedly called upon to make, I shall neither have time nor in- 
clination to be very fastidious or select in my expressions, but shall alloWthem to take the 
spontaneous tone of a fervent indignation at this outrageous attempt of an ex-President 
of the United States to sustain a gross libel by raising additional calumnies against me. 

In the analysis and refutation I now propose to make of the foregoing afujuvit, I shall 
endeavor, nevertheless, for the sake of perspicuity, to bring together the material allega 
tions and inferences of the witness under three several heads or sections, according tc- 
their affinities, quoting his words as they apply to the subjects of those several heads, and 
marking those quotations numerically, for a convenient reference to them, as correspond- 
ingly marked by me in brackets, in the affidavit, viz : 

1. I shall throw into the First Section, the charge, or s belief,' of purloining, together 
with the attempt to connect with it a vindication by the deponent, of the disposal he made 
of the testimony he had in his possession, of Houston's conspiracy. 

2. In the Second Section, I shall more particularly notice the ' reasons' of the depo- 
nent for his charge, or ' belief of purloining, as they relate to his alleged disposal and 



return to me of two confdtniial letters making charges against many clerhs y which he 
says I had written to him. 

3. In the Third, Section, 1 shall notice the further reasons, or auxiliaries to the reason*, 
of the deponent for his charge, or 'belief,' of purloining, as they relate to a list of public 
charges, ichich he says I presented to him after he had refused to act upon the secret ones . 
the object of all which rambling of the deponent into the field of fiction is, (to cull embel- 
lishments for his scanty, meager, mutilated facts, barely recognisable in their fictitious ar- 
ray) manifestly to argue or beguile the court, the jury, and the public, (with the im- 
posing assistance of his inflated name,) into the ausurd ." belief" that one who could act 
the infamous part he has falsely imputed to me, would have purloined the copy of his letter 
to Fulton without opportunity. 
I. In the first place, to the sixth interrogatory the deponent " answereth and saith [1] that the aforesaid 




fays, "was placed with the copy of the confidential letter of the lOih December, 1830, in my confidential 
drawer in my office^" 

The public will presently perceive, from a comparison of the deponent's own statements, 
(if his testimony may be pleaded in refutation of himself, ) how impossible it was 'that the 
aforesaid [1] copy' of his letter to Fulton could have been purloined at all; and how frivo- 
lous are the grounds of his 'belief [7] that I purloined it, even were it possible that the 
deed could have been done by any one. [b. ] Passing any minute examination of these points, 
then, for the present, till they come up with their connectives in the next section, I shall 
only advert here to the contrast between this hardy assertion of General Jackson towards 
me, and the more manly course of Mr. Monroe towards Mr. Lowrie, in regard to the cele- 
brated No-party letter of General Jackson in November, 1816, to Mr. Monroe, and Mr. 
Monroe's answer, which was in Mr. Lowrie's possession in February, 1824. In the cor 
respondence between General Jackson and Mr. Monroe on that subject, in 1824, which 1 
have before me, (including the correspondence of 1816,) as published in the National In- 
telligencer in May, 1824, General Jackson says, in his letter to Mr. Monroe of the 22d 
February, "If you know the date of your letter to me, that Mr. Lowrie is possessed of , I 
will thank you to advise me." In Mr. Monr6e's answer to General Jackson, of the same 
dale, he says, "I have no knowledge of-lhe dale of the letter to which Mr. Lowrie refers, 
nor can 1 imagine in what manner any letter of mine to you, or other friend, shoidd have 
gotten into tJte possession of any one." Again, he says, "I have no recollection of giving 
any copy of my views on the subject to any one. The copy in question, if correct, must 
have been resorted to for unfriendly purposes, and in breach of confidence, and has prob- 
ably been purloined." Again : " If my coHfidence given at the time referred to has been 
in any manner abused, or the letter been purloined, that is an incident which must dis- 
honor the party guilty of such acts. " Agreed, if it were so ,• but Mr. Monroe does not even 
intimate 'a belief"' that Mr. Lowrie purloined that letter, (nor did he;) much less go into 
elaborate fabrications — or an enumeration of true and false facts artfully mixed up, to give 
a coloring to such an inference .' Let it here be noted, however, that I do not lay much 
empfc.asis upon the correctness of the above extracts, as it is well known that the original 
letters referred to underwent considerable mutilations (I am credibly informed sixty in 
number) by General Jackson's* accredited and confidential agent in their publication. Major 
Eaton, who furnished the Philadelphia Observer with one copy of this mutilated corres- 
pondence, and the National Intelligencer with another copy, each materially differing from 
the other, and both varying from the originals ; thus falsified, of course, with General Jack- 
son's approbation, and with the intention of imposing upon the public. But both those 
mutilated copies making their appearance on the same day in the Philadelphia and Wash- 
ington papers, their discrepancies were not noticed by the mutilators before it was too 
late to force them to agree, nor before General Armstrong remonstrated with General Jack- 
son upon an exceptionable passage he saw in the Philadelphia copy, which first met his 
eye, and which General Jackson denied, because that passage did not appear in the Wash- 
ington copy which he examined in the Intelligencer. 

The deponent is not content with declaring his belief that I purloined the copy of his 
confidential letter to Fulton, but charges me with the like depredation upon "the report 
[2] of Governor Fulton," " which report," [6] (elsewhere called in his affidavit "reply 
and report," [8]) he declares, as a reason for his belief, " was placed with the copy of his 
confidential letter of the 10th December, 1830, in his confidential drawer, in his office." 
This is the first of the multiplicity of circumstances, artfully devised and dovetailed to- 



gather, in order to give some plausibility to the most improbable and morally impossible 
supposition, first, that the copy of his letter to Fulton was purloined; then, that the report 
of Fulton was purloined, together with that copy, because they were filed together ; and 
that I purloined them both, because the copy of the letter to Fulton is in my possession, 
as subsequently stated [45] in the affidavit. Everybody knows the fallacies to which ill- 
constructed syllogisms are incident. Let it suffice for the present to say, that there was 
not any such document as a reply or report of any sort in company with the copy of the 
letter to Fulton, when the package that contained that copy was handed to me by the 
President's messenger — the mode, as I have frequently said, by which that copy came 
into my possession ; nor have I ever seen either reply or report, as separate documents or 
a common document; nor have I ever had any satisfactory reason to believe, if that report 
or reply ever existed, that it was made and received in good faith to the two countries 
whose Interest and honor were at stake ! Had such a report ever come into my hands, and 
that in the abovementioned package, as did the copy of the letter addressed to " William 
Fulton, Esq., Secretary of the T. of Florida, 1 ' (not Arkansas,) I should probably have 
seen further evidence to confirm my exposition in a former publication, demonstrating 
the hypocritical Executive connivance at the conspiracy of Houston, for which that secret 
correspondence, sham or real, was evidently intended to perform the double alternative 
offices, to screen and to deny. 

But what "investigation" [3] could Mr. Fulton or any other person have made of a 
matter " strictly confidential," seeing that he could not exhibit his authority to make such 
investigation? Even in a matter of ordinary misdehieanor, so rigid an injunction ot 
secrecy would have been an insuperable obstacle to any investigation. How impracticable, 
then, must he have found it, among parties who uerobotind together by an oath of secrecy 
and fidelity, in an enterprise o/theason ? Is it not, in fact, a perfect burlesque upon terms, 
to say that this mere Secretary of a Territory (which the President mistook for Florida in- 
stead of Arkansas) made an Investigation. under such circumstances? But, suppose Ful- 
ton did hazard a formal exculpatory report, without the moral or physical possibility ot 
having made the investigation alleged, as the district attorneys afterwards did fraudulently 
exculpate well known offenders, when this and other modes of manifesting the Executive 
bias, and giving a lead to public sentiment in favor of this enterprise throughout the West, 
had emboldened them to do so in the face of the universally known fact of military prepa- 
rations progressing before their eyes, for that enterprise — were rot the then transpiring 
and subsequent facts that were uiged upon General Jackson from all quarters, sufficient to 
have demanded from him (were he disposed to do his duty) a general proclamation, or at. 
least a more general and unrestricted inquiry than that sham measure which was locked up 
in Mr. Fulton's breast ? Surely, yes would be the universal answer; for the public has 
too fresh a recollection of the reiterated proclamations of the present executive incumbent, 
arising probably from a different estimate of the parties injured, in the parallel case of the 
Canada frontier, resulting in. prosecutions, condemnations, and punishment of the of- 
fenders ; and they cannot have forgotten that in the case of Burr, Mr. Jefferson sent a 
bona fid. agent of observation through the West, untrammelled with absolute secrecy, 
whose object was generally known ; who was empowered not only to investigate freely, 
but to dissuade; and therefore was efficient — and that Mr. Jefferson not only issued proc- 
lamation, but made repeated communications to Congress on the subject. But here I 
might well have asked, in the first place, what "meditated [4] invasion" was thi.<, which 
the deponent so slightly alluded to but once? Was it that of which I gave him a most 
circumstantial statement in 1830, from Houston's own disclosures, and in which I referred 
to several witnesses ? none of which circumstances does he deign to mention in his affi- 
davit, much less does it anywhere appear that he ever called upon a single one of those 
witnesses, or even upon Houston himself, who Was several times, pending the execution of 
that enterprise, on visits to his distinguished patron and friend, the deponent I How, 
then, can he with truth pronounce in his affidavit that this "meditated invasion ale 
movEi) fallacious," [5] when in fact he had, as I believe, studiously avoided every 
proper mode of causing it to be investigated ? Why did he not also give a brief statement, 
from his wonderful memory, of the contents of that report ? I have no doubt he would 
have done so, did it ever exist, and he had supposed it would be as satisfactory to the 
public as he pronounces it was to him .' Indeed, it surpasseth my comprehension that 
even General Jackson should have the hardihood now to say, in the face of history, that 
the statement of Houston's enterprise, made' loo on the testimony of several credible wit- 
nesses, was all proved fallacious by the report of a single individual, so circumstanced 



• hat it was impossible for liim to have made a competent investigation, and which tejoit 
he had never thought proper to refer to in any manner before, not even in those limes 
when he was so straightened in his correspondence with the Mexican Minister for "rea- 
sons" to justify or to excuse his obdurate incredulity in the matters set forth. I might well 
retort upon him here, as also at the conclusion of this, my refutation of his affidavit, and 
say that such a declaration is sufficient) alone, " to destroy him as a man cf truth and 
sincerity forever hereafter," bid tuat sow wait to be dose ! 

II. The deponent cups on to say—" For this belief [that Robert Mayo purloined the copy of his confidential 
letter Ao Fulton, 'together with the report' of said Fulton,] affiant begs leave to state his [8] reasons, to wit : 
" The plaintiff Robert Mayo," says he, " had written him two [9] confidential letters, making serious char- 
ges against many clerks in the different Departments at Washington." "These confidential letters," says he, 
" were [l(i] placed in my confidential drawer, in my office, where [11] the copyof my letter to Governor Ful- 
ton, then Secretary of the Territory of Arkansas, with his reply [12] and re] oil, were di pi siu d." Further 
on he says, " This deponent further states, that no [35] person was permitted to look into this confidential 
drawer but ['10] his private secretary, Andrew J. Donelson, and Andrew Jackson, jr.," who "both have stated 
t.i this deponent that they, or either of them, never d< liven d or gave [-11] a copy of the said 1< tter marked 
'strictly confidential,' dated the 10th day of December, 1830, and addressed to William Fulton, [to Robert 
Mayo, ha probably meant to say,] or to any other person ; and this pfBant knows [42] of no one who could 
have had [43] access to his private drawer in his office, or purloined this letter, but [44] Robert Mayo, in 
whose possession this purloined letter was found, [4-5] and acknowledged [4b] by him to have handed to ex- 
President John Q. Adams " 

"After [13] receiving these confidential lettprs from Robert Mayo," says he, " this deponent informed him 
that lie cou/il not, [11] nor icouid nut, take any measures against those clerks on his confidential cornpla nts ; 
that he must furnish deponent, with [15] specific charges, to which those clerks would be calif d upon to re- 
spond ; that [1(5] all men were presumed to lie innocent until guilt was established ; that [17] every man 
eharged with crime, or acts that would affect his moral character, ought to be heard in his own defence ; and 
that he would [18] not act upon confidential or secret information against any one." Again, to this matter, 
lie says: "A few days [30] after the before-mentioned occurrence, [alluding to a fictitious occurrence de- 
vised and brought in between the alleged reception and return c f these fictitious letters; which fabricated 
occurrence will be discussed in the next section,] the plaintiff, Robert Mayo, applied [31] to this deponent 
to return to him his two confidential letters, containing charges against several clerks." " These letters." lie 
repeats, " as before recited, [10] had been placed in the confidential bureau, where [II] was also deposited 
the confidential letter of the 10th December, 1830, to Governor Fulton. The drawer being very [32]/«ZZ," 
says he, " this deponent had to take out many [33] papers to find those requested by Robert Mayo to be re- 
turned, and lay them on the table beside [34] which Robert Mayo was sitting. This deponent," he contin- 
ues, "having found the two letters, [35] returned them to Robert Mayo, and told him never to make charges 
against any one that he could not establish. Durins [36] trjfi search," says he, " deponent believi s Kobert 
Mayo, seeing [37] this letter marked 'strictly confidential,' peiloined it, as it never could be found," &c. 

I should think it would seem passing strange to the minds of most men, how minute 
General Jackson professes to be in his recollection of the most circumstantial details, after 
a lapse of many years, and that, too, without a document to assist his memory ; while I 
confess that, with a tolerably retentive memory of my own, I should yet be a little at a loss 
to recollect with accuracy some of the circumstances of quite an adverse state of the facts, 
without the. aid of the mass of documents I have in my possession, to refresh and confirm 
my recollection of them. Without those documents, and in the absence of my daily ghgw- 
isti knowudgk, fur several years pant, of General Jackson's unfortunate foible, I 
should, perhaps, be almost induced to doubt the validity of my own recollections in contra- 
diction of such a tissue of peremptory asseverations he has woven into this affidavit. 

It has been seen how positively he asserts that the copy of his letter to Fulton was 
placed, with Fulton's reply and report, in his confidential drawer, (that is, "filed" [56] 
with it, as Major Donelson expresses it,) and that the copy of the letter, together with the re- 
port, were both purloined, as he believed, by Kobert Mayo; and now we see, he "further 
states that no [3'J] person wan permitted to look into this confidential drawer but [40] his 
private secretary, Andrew J. Donelson, ami Andrew Jacks-on, jr." Yet, again, in another 
place, he says '■ and this affiant [42] knows of no one who could have had [43] access to 
this confidential drawer in his office, or purloined this letter, but [44] Kobert Mayo." Now, 
every sane and ingenuous mind must be at a loss to conceive how I could have harhecccfs 
to this confidential drawer, when no one teas permitted to look into it but the two poisons 
mentioned! What, then, can anyone imagine, was the nature of the access pretended to 
be set up for me, in (lie face of this unqualified interdiction 1 It wili be in vain to attempt 
to make it out from his affidavit, if it be not in that part of it where he fabricates a tale of 
his making, "a [36] search" in this drawer, in my presence, (for certain alleged ' two con- 
fidential [9] letters' of mine, to return them to me, while he would have me to be sitting 
beside the table on which, his confidential drawer where they were deposited being very, 
full, he had to lay many papers ;) and says, that "during this search, deponent believes 
Kobert Mayo, seeing [37] this letter [meaning his letter to Fulton] marked ' strictly con- 
rniKNTi a i.,' purloined it," &c. Now, passing, by the question of fact, as to two confidential 
letters, for due consideration in its proper routine, let it be here supposed that such a table 
scene ever did exist; I would then ask every man who has any acquaintance with the trans- 



10 

V.icns of business at a desk or table, while another is sitting by, what kind of access it is, 
whereby that other could purloin his papers before his face, or would dare hazard such an 
enterprise 1 Does not the supposition bear absurdity in every aspect of it 1 What would 
not be the state of daily insecurity of the documents in the public offices generally, and of 
every man's private papers, in the transaction of business with our fellow-citizens 1 In- 
deed, such a far-fetched supposition, to dandle a string of falsehoods and absurd reason- 
ing upon, could hardly have been hazarded to tantalize the veriest dupes in the world with- 
al, not even by General Jackson himself, had he not already been emboldened (by the oft- 
repeated and wonderful instances of public infatuation, in sustaining his outrageous acts 
ind declarations on more important occasions, ) to dare say or do anything that his 
ambition or malignity might prompt him to, however absurd the one, or ruinous the other 
to his country's weal ! Such a supposition is sufficient at once to challenge and to defy 
both the audacity of a pickpocket, and the skill of the most consummate adept in the jug- 
gler's art ! Nay, it is too preposterous to enlist the credulity even of the proselytes ol the 
new Jacobin school of moral depravity sprung up under his cohruptisg patronage, 
much less of any one decent citizen who has a personal respect for that sacred remnant of 
the bankrupt American stock of honor and good faith, national and individual, with 
which the Jackson era has played such wild and destructive havoc ! 

It may be worth while here to enter into a little calculation, from which I apprehend a 
most conclusive argument ad absurdum must follow. The deponent says, that after re- 
ceiving these confidential letters from me, he told me he would not take measures against 
those clerks upon my secret complaints; that I must furnish him with specific charges ; that 
" in a few days thereafter I presented him with a long list of charges, in writing; against a 
great many clerks in the different Departments," which, he says, "were, forthwith referred to 
the headsof departments to be fully investigated ; " and that " soon alter this full investiga- 
tion, I applied to withdraw these public charges." And again, that "a few days after ihat oc- 
currence, I requested him to return me the two confidential letters, which he had placed in 
his confidential drawer, where the copy of his letter to Mr. Fulton, together with Fulton's 
reply and report, had been deposited; and that, in looking into his drawer for those two 
letters, "he had to take out many papers, and lay them on the table beside which I wa3 
sitting," [which, of course, 4 su{ poses that these letters had already gotten nearly to the bot- 
tom of the mass of his confidential papers.] He also says that I, seeing the letter to Ful- 
ton marked 'strictly confidential,' purloined it ; [and, of course, that letter was among those 
taken out, and necessarily was nearer the top of the mass than those two confidential let- 
ters of recent date.] Now I shall not trouble the reader with any comment upon the ab 
surdity of so much work being alleged to have been done in rapid succession " in a few 
(] a y S " — for that is the substitute the deponent makes for all dates, months, and years that 
had been transpiring; but I will call his attention to the absurdity of representing those 
two letters said to be of recent date, as being already covered over by a mass of other con- 
fidential documents, among which the letter to Fulton (which was probably several years 
old, according to the date of the private secretary's letter in behalf of the President to Mr. 
DeKrafft, which probably fixes the year General Jackson would be speaking of) was nearer 
?o the top of the drawer. It is not for me to conjecture how such extraordinary circum- 
stances could have happened; it was incumbent on the witness to explain them, since he 
relies upon this table scene alone to show how I might have done what he labors so hard to 
induce others to believe. If he had really taken pains to file his papers at all in classes, as 
he pretends to have filed Fulton's reply with the original, why* could he not have laid hands 
on those of recent date, without tumbling his papers, pell-mell, old and new, on the table, 
»o find those of recent date at the bottom 1 But, when be alleged that I taw this letter marked 
[37] ' strictly confidential,' and therefore purloined it before his face, he overreached himself, 
in the malignity of his zeal to convict me of a disgraceful act, by the assertion of what he 
could not know — based, too, upon what did not exist; for, in the first place, who will no), 
perceive that this statement discredits itself, when he considers how impossible it is that 
the affiant could know that I saiv t'.iis letter was marked ' strictly confidential ;' when, 
too, he^is not even certain it was among those he had laid on the tabic ? And yet what will 
every one say of the audacity of this device, when, in the next pla^e, they are informed 
that the letter in fact is not so marked on the outside, but is so headed within the folds of 
it ■' But even were it so marked externally, and I did see it so marked., yet might I not ask, 
what motive could I have had to select that letter from a mass of others similarly marked, 
no doubt, as we are told they were all of the same confidential character] For could I, ex- 
cept by some preternatural gift of intuition, have been able to pitch upon that particular 



11 

letter, of the existence or the contents of which, according to General Jackson't, own show • 
trig, I could have had no previous knowledge — nor did the endorsement upon it in- 
timate any interest that I could possibly have in — it being addressed to ' William Fulton; 
Esq., Secretary of the T. of Florida,' whom I knew not, and there being, in fact, no such 
person! And yet, to borrow a little more coloring of plausibility from- another fiction 
or two of his mind, he says, in a disingenuous malignant, and perverted phraseology, preg- 
nant with virtual falsehood, that "in my possession this purloined letter was [45] found," 
and that I acknowledged, [46] having handpd it to Mr. Adams, whereas there was neither 
finding nor acknowledging, in the sense attempted to be communicated by the use and re- 
iteration [49] of those scandalizing terms, as they are commonly understood under such 
circumstances. On the contrary, I had made it a voluntary and special act of my own to 
exhibit the copy to several gentlemen shortly after receiving it, before I showed it to Mr. 
Adams, whom I authorized to make any use of it that he should think proper, informing 
him that I intended to publish a fac simile of it, and therefore could not let it go out 
of my possession, but furnished him with a copy. Now, where is the finding and the 
acknowledging, as if by compulsion, or process of cross-examination, or any other pro- 
cess than my own voluntary act, of free choice and self-advisement 1 Ay, it was my pride 
to hold fast to it, and to proclaim it to the world, had it been the last act of my life — as an 
indisputable evidence of a President of the United States descending from the high re- 
sponsibilities of his lofty station toplutj second fiddle to a conspirator against the peace 
and territorial integrity of a neighboring, friendly, sister republic; making himself 
particeps criminis in the systematic treason of a sworn band of land pirates, in the cow- 
ardly act of despoiling the domains of a weaker Power, rent and bowed down with internal 
troubles, while the mimics of that lawless band, who unwittingly followed their example on 
a more powerful frontier, were (upon the same cowardly principle, which served in the place 
of justice) not merely left to their fate, but prosecuted and punished, not as a sacrifice to the 
spirit of equal justice in behalf of the shorn lamb, but as a propitiation to the God of War, 
"hat gave a weak and time-serving Executive affright in the emblem of a rampant lion ! [c. ] 
It was for this exposure that I have given offence to the immaculate party ; that is the 
grievance which the deponent, his apologists, and his colleagues have against me — not that 
they believe I ever did or could have perpetrated the deed imputed ; and I doubt not Gene 
ral Jackson would have gone the length to say he saw me take it, if that would not have 
impugned the idea of purloining; but, thank God, I am too well fortified far him or his con- 
federates to succeed in their unhallowed conspiracy against me, or to cover their own shame 
by such a clamor. Indeed, I need not say to any discerning mind that the entire drift 
of the studied and reiterated scandalizing phraseology of the whole affidavit obviously is 
to defame " the plaintiff in the suit." It would also be superfluous for me to declare, as I 
nevertheless solemnly do, that I have no recollection of being present at any time whatever ~" 
when General Jackson was examining his confidential bureau, or that he had such, unless 
there be an exception to this, in a particular instance, when he invited me to his chamber to 
examine ce.rta.in documents (which he took from a large trunk, not a bureau or table drawer) 
in relation to his invasion of the Spanish territory of Florida during Mr. Monroe's admin- 
istration, and which examination I was invited to make, with the view to establish a charge 
of falsehood he alleged against Mr. Monroe ; but having taken no steps in the matter, myself, 
after examining the documents exhibited to n:e by General Jackson, I was astonished to 
perceive that the same thing was attempted some time afterwards, by a communication 
from Samuel Gwin, Esq., the personal and intimate friend of General Jackson, which 
communication was published in the Richmond Enquirer, shortly after Gwin had left a 
clerkship in the Post Office Department here, to officiate in a more lucrative appointment 
m the Lund Office, as register or receiver in Mississippi. The asperities of the original 
design were much mitigated, however, in that communicaion, as to the positive induc- 
tions of falsehood ; but it bore all the other internal evidences of its origin in the indica- 
tions of the then tenant of the President's mansion. I waive any particular notice here, 
of the palpable discrepancies or incongruities between the deponent's declaration of 'belief' 
that I purloined the copy of his letter to Fulton, together with Fulton's report, the subse- 
quent coupling of a reply of Fulton with the report, and his afterwards, throughout, the 
affidavit, characterizing the purloining as being confined to the copy of the letter to Ful- 
ton, by ever afterwards speaking of it singly. 

It has been seen that, in order to find me in his mind's eye, and to depict me in his 
affidavit, as being present beside the table while he was making this search in his confi 
dential drawer, the deponent states that "the plaintiff, Robert Mayo, had written him two 
[9] confidential letters, making serious charges against many clerks, employed by the Got 



12 

eminent in Washington, in its various departments; that these letters were [10] placed 
in his confidential drawer in his office, where the confidential letter to Governor Fulton, 
then Secretary of Arkansas, with his reply [12] and report, were deposited." He then says* 
that "alter [13] receiving these confidential letters from Robert Mayo, the plaintiff, thi* 
deponent informed him that he could [14] not, nor would not, take any measures against 
those clerks on his confidential complaints ; that he must furnish deponent with specific 
[15] charges, to which these clerks would be called upon to respond" — alleging "that all 
[16] men arc presumed to be innocent until guilt is established ;" "that every [17] man 
charged with crime, or acts that would affect his moral character, ought to be heard in his 
own defence; and that he would [18] not act upon confidential and secret information 
against any one." He also says that, "a few [30] days after" a certain alleged occurrence 
presently to be noted, "the plaintiif, Robert Mayo, applied [31] to him, and requested that 
he, deponent, would return to him his two confidential letters." "These letters," says he, 
" as before recited, [10] had been placed in the confidential bureau, where [11] was also de- 
posited the copy of the confidential letter of the 10th December, 1830, to Governor Ful- 
ton." He continues : " the drawer being very [32] full, this deponent had to take out many 
[33] papers to find those requested by Robert Mayo to be returned to him, and lay them 
on the table beside [3i] which Rebert Mayo was sitting;" and &dds, "this deponent 
having found the two letters, [35] returned them to Robert Mayo, and told him for the 
future never to make charges against any one that he could not establish j" and, finally, 
we are enabled to appreciate the object of this smooth tale, when he says, "during [36] 
this search, deponent believes Robert Mayo, skeing [37] this letter marked * strictly 
confidential,' purloined it," &c. Now, taking in their order these allegations so artfully 
devised and strung together, I solemnly aver that I never wrote General Jackson a confi- 
dential letter, in any capacity, in my life — neither so expressed, nor so implied ; but always 
expressed, or implied from their purport, to be disposed of as he should think proper. I 
have many reasons against the doctrine of secrecy, against the inculcation of secrecy, and 
never took an oath of secrecy on any account. These mysterious devices I view in no 
better light than cloaks and guards to conceal and protect conspirators and bandits in the exe- 
cution of their lawless and predatory designs ; and I go the extent to say that I have always 
been a practical anti-mason with regard to my own acts; that from principle 1 abhor 
secrecy in my own affairs, and have an utter aversion to be charged with the burden of 
secrecy in the affairs of others, when it can be avoided ; and I hold that a confidential 
communication upon ■official business (except in peculiar relations) is particularly ob- 
jectionable, as paralyzing the freedom of efficient action -upon the matter communicated. 
Common sense would say that a discretion should, from the necessity of the case, be 
always granted to the olficcr or agent, on such occasions.* If I could ever have a motive 
that would be sufficient to overcome iny repugnance to. secrecy; it ought to have operated 
on me in the case of my communication to the President, detailing the plans of Houston's 
enterprise against the Mexican dominions. I knew Houston was the intimate and cher- 
ished friend of General Jackson, long before the election of the latter as President of the 
United States: that he had been upon the most gracious terms with the President, during 



* Secrecy is that dark mysterious cloak which \i indispensable t > the accomplishment of all the wicked 
plots wherewith individuals or combinations of men blague and torment their unwary fellow-beings. What- 
ever bo the abundance of their oilier resjurces, their lawless enterprises must nevertheless fail, without this 
impenetrable inanlle thrown over the Laboratory of their preparations. It has been the chief means of the 
successive, destructi in of empires, arising from comparatively small causes, nurtured, ramified, and grown 
formidable in the dens of the conspirators. To go no further back than the time when General Jackson 
became the clandestine nominee of Aaron Burr for ills ['residency, with the co-operation of masonic associa- 
tions, we may safely pronounce the success of that, intrigue to be lh° origin of the widespread ruin that has 
since come over this country, viewed in every aspect of her moral, physical, and political deterioration and 
fallen condition! What can lie more characteristic o( the dark purposes of the man, than that declaration 
of his to Mr. Buchanan, upon being asked whom lie Would bring about hioi to constitute his cal inet advisers 
in the event of his election by the House of Representatives in 1825, when he, in his Litter tone of denunci- 
ation and reproof, said, " if he thought a hair of his head knew his intentions, he would pluck it. out !" Had 
it then or afterwards been generally known whom he would select as his associates and advisers, high and 
low in achieving the various debasements of the public service and national character, would any man 
dare entertain the belief or wish that he should ever he elected President of the United Slates, particularly 
if he could have taken into the account the deads which he reserved for the defilement, of his second term « 
But bavins gradually spread corruption far and wide, by the abuses of his executive patronage, he has 
brou"hl bnthat dark era in the history of his devoted countrymen, when a considerable majority of them, 
yet heedless of the destruction in preparation for them, have at last tolerated the dictation of a successor at 
his hands; who als i pusillanimouslv proluis d to do him honor therefor, by following the footsteps of his 
illustrious predecessor, and probably submits to he ihetool of his dictations in his nominal retirement. 1 can 
bin say, the more I see of the disingenuous acts of the Jackson drama, the more am I inclined to view secrbct 

AND INTHIOtTB as COUSin ;-germOll tO DIPLOMATIC LYING. 



13 

his visit here in the winter of lS29-'30, and had been invited, as he (Houston) informed 
me, to take his lodgings at the President's house, which "he declined for the sake of ap- 
pearances." From these, and a variety of other circumstances, (among which General 
Jackson's former agency in the conspiracy of Burr, revived by Houston, is not the least,) 
I had ample reason to believe that this same General Jackson was already cognisant of this 
scheme of Houston. I therefore may safely say, without the imputation of vain boasting, 
now, when I have so fully proved my defiance of unjust suffering in a thousand shapes 
rather than be recreant to the principles of my whole life, that I took great hazard upon 
myself of being tomahawked at sight by Houston, who was a demi-savage by adoption, 
and of incurring General Jackson's displeasure, while I was, and had been for more than 
eighteen months, in almost daily expectation of an official appointment — when, as soon 
as I had other corroborating evidence to sustain me, besides the detailed avowals of Hous- 
ton, I communicated the whole to the President — in the hope to check-mate this would-be 
King of Texas, and counteract General Jackson's collusion, if it existed, by interposing 
the high and sacred obligations of his official station ; but it happens that that was a very 
small impediment to the wilfulness of the gheat irresponsible ! With this view, 
however, that communication was fearlessly made, and accompanied with the express 
authority in the first sentence of it, "to be used in any way your excellency may deem 
proper." I will not, here, go into the particulars to show that General Jackson did rot 
make such use of that communication as his high official responsibility called on him to 
do — that he did not call upon the witnesses I referred him to — that he did not promptly 
admonish the district attorneys, and other legal agents throughout the West and other 
scenes of preparation, of their duty in reporting and suppressing those incipient move- 
ments — that his call upon Mr. Fulton (the mere Secretary of a Territory, and whose 
brother I am informed was a recruiting officer of Houston,) was not made in good faith as 
an efficient measure, but as a sham, a blind, to give to the conspiracy his connivance, and 
to the communication respecting it an unceremonious, or rather a disingenuous dismissal; 
to which purposes the unofficial character of his letter, with the rigid injunction " strictly 
confidential" were to be subservient — and that his excuse in said letter, for not addressing 
it to the Governor instead of the Secretary of the Territory, to wit, "that the Governor 
is understood to be now in Kentucky," was a sheer assumption to render more opaque the 
thin veil he was throwing over the transaction, as the Governor was not in Kentucky, but 
ivas at his post in Arkansas. Nor need I tarry here to show that the negations of Mr. Ful- 
ton's individual report (if in fact he ever made one) could not have been satisfactory under all 
the circumstances ; and if it were so considered at the time, there were ample reasons, under 
the notorious military preparations that shortly ensued through the West, why the President 
should have made interdictive proclamation, upon those developments accruing, confirma- 
tory of the details I had communicated to him; much less will I here descant upon the 
direct and wanton discredit he throws upon that communication, in his secret letter to 
Fulton, and that too without "investigation," "full and fair," of which he makes such 
vain boasting in another part of his affidavit, on another subject, but without truth ! 
Proceeding, then, to the next fiction in this romance of this political mountebank, viz: 
"that these confidential letters were placed in his confidential drawer," it will be sufficient 
for me to ask the common sense of every man, what motive could General Jackson have, 
in the ordinary course of 'secret and confidential' communications, for placing these letters 
(did they exist) in his confidential executive bureau 1 Would he not have naturally returned 
them to me, with his prompt forthwith, (at the time he thus disclaimed action upon them,) 
as being of no value to him 1 For what purpose could he have retained them, after informing 
me peremptorily that he could not nor would not take any measures against those clerks on 
my confidential complaints? ©r, why should it not more reasonably have occurred to me 
at that conjuncture to have requested their return, rather than make that request at a sub- 
sequent time, when another overwhelming disgrace had supervened, according to his state- 
ment, which would naturally have obliterated any thought from my mind of this compara- 
tively small affair 1 The answer to all this is obvious: the concocted tale would have been 
imperfect, and shorn of its symmetry — he would not have had it in his power afterwards, 
to represent me as sitting by his confidential bureau, to purloin a paper from a mass of 
others, before his face, while he was examining them for those repudiated confidential letters 
to return them to me by my request ! 

As to the alleged demand of me, that I must furnish him with specific charges to 
which those clerks would be called on to respond, besides showing, as I now have done, that 
no such expression could have been used upon an occasion that never did exist, I shall be 



14 

able to show, on a full investigation hereafter, and in a summary manner, in the next clause, 
that I had full preliminary authority, both by particular request from a confidential officer 
of his lower cabinet, and by repeated encouragement and recognition from the President 
himself, to assist in compiling ltsts of opposition officers in the departments, together 
with a statement of the reprehensible practices in any manner connected with persons in 
office — as auxiliary means of salutary reform, to be acted upon as he should think proper, 
but in no manner whatever connected with the present subject, or with ' confidential com- 
plaints,' as he would feign have it. Is it not manifest that this alleged demand of me 
for" "specific charges" is thrown into this affidavit, in order to give some color of justifi- 
cation for those lists that were made out by numerous contributors, under authority and 
circumstances totally disconnected with the matter now in hand 1 or, to shift the odium of 
responsibility for them from himself and the other participators in them, upon my shoulders 
alone] Moreover, is it not palpable to every one in any degree acquainted with General 
Jackson's history previous to and during his Presidential terms, that he avails himself of 
this fabricated occasion to interpolate a fraudulent profession of principles by which he 
pretends to be governed 1 viz : ' that all men are presumed to be innocent until guilt is 
established ; that every man charged with crime, or with acts that would affect his moral 
character, ought to be heard in his own defence !'* Yes, I think I may safely say that 
every man in this community knows what value to put upon such professions, coming 
from one who has consigned so many of his fellow-beings to a cruel fate, in direct contra- 
vention of those principles — who has ignominiously sacrificed hecatombs of public officers, 
not only without a hearing, but without a fault, and even without an intimation to them 
to prepare for the sacrifice, or that there was any imputation against them, (who, ten to one, 
are better patriots than their wrong-doer,) to make places for political favorites — with a 
billet or death-warrant of a few parsimonious peremptory words, — ' tour services are 
no loxoer wasted :' which launches the victims and their families suddenly and unpre- 
pared into a world of vexatious troubles, penury, want, and all the torments of that living 
death consequent upon this artificial seeming of one's country's disfavor, worse than death's 
reality, as, living, there is no adequate revenge to sweeten this bitter cup of crying injustice, 
while in death's reality it would be forgotten ! But, in my case, by peculiar good fortune 
in the midst of infuriated party persecution, ihe blind zeal of an interested deponent has 
afforded me this occasion of signal reaction upon my calumniator, of which I am proud 

IF HE WILL LIVE TO FEEL IT ! ! ! 

Ill It has just been seen, the deponent states, that upon his refusing to act upon the two confidential let- 
ters imputed to me, he told me I must furnish him with'specific charges, and then he goes on to say: " The 
claim/iff, Robert Mayo, in a few davs [193 thereafter, (meaning after he required me to furnish him with spe- 
cific charges ) presented this deponent with a lone [20] list of charges in writing against a great many clerks 
in the different departments, which was forthwith [21] referred to the heads of Departments to be fully in- 
ve3tieated upon which [22] investigation Robert Mayo failed [23] to establish his charges made against any 
one individual charged." Also, that " soon [24] after this full [25] investigation, Robert Mayo applied to [26] 
thi« deponent to withdraw these public charges;" that " deponent told him he [27] might,as the chargts being 
made by him and not established, would, now being on my public files, destroy [28] him. as a man of truth 
forever- and I referred him to my private secretary, Major A. J. Donelson, to get them." Again : that this 
deponent was informed [29] by Robert Mayo and Major Donelson that these public charges against the 
clerks were given up to him." 



* Here is a fine specimen of that beau-ideal of systematic lying by which the wicked so often profess 
-md nrofane the sacred principles of honor, justice, morality, and religion, in order to conceal their ultra 
"diWilical nurposes, which involve the most flagrant infractions of those principles. It would be a very in- 
structive lesson at the present crisis, could the American public have a succinct enumeration of the atrocious 
deeds that have been perpetrated in all times by the turbulent antagonists of law and civilization, under 
this SDPcious mask of sacred principles. Such professions constitute the substrata of all the airy superstruc- 
tures of that fraternity of innovators, disoreanizers, anarchists, plunderers, and destructives, who call them- 
selves friends of the people, but are Jacobins in disguise all the world«ver, and only await the fit occasion 
to declare war to the knife, war to the hilt, against all the institutions of civilization. This specious system 
of i yivg is the sympathetic principle of instinct bv which Jacobins recognise each other and assort together, 
tn cheat and supplant the friends of law, order, and rational liberty, in all countries, and continually jeopard- 
i?e the cause of civilization in all ages. Did not this same sect, in the French Revolution, profess the 
abstract philosophical principle of liberty, equality, and justice, which they rarely practised when any 
rhino- was to be gained by their perversion 1 Did they not affect to accuse that portion of their fellow-citi- 
7priawhom they called aristocrats, with murdering and plundering one another, in order to bring dis- 
ornce and infamy on their friends and adherents the ferocious democrats, whom they had systematically and 
cWndestinelv instigated to perform those cruel and savage horrors ? And is it not the universal practice of 
the same sect of the present day, to profess principles they never perform, and accuse their Whig opponents 
of ihp ibominations familiar only to their own hands, in order to disguise the ulterior revolutionary purposes 
with which they now imminently threaten the country 7 Adverting to the party incidents that have taken 
date from the commencement of the Jackson era, we have superabounding evidence of this system of de- 
ception and fraud in the professions of reform made at the incipience of his administration, which were 
onlv meant as the event has proved, to cover the premeditated sins of official proscription on the one hand 
and r-artv/aro'-i/j *wi on the other, to the infinite embarrassment and deterioration of the public service 



In the first specification in this .third section, there is a very material error, as I never 
did present General Jackson with such a list as he describes, of charges made by myself 
against a great many clerks in the different departments ; but I did, at an interval of nearly 
two years — perhaps a little over two years between — present him with two lists, of which I 
have spoken in a pamphlet published in 1S37, as the second and third editions of re- 
form ; the first list, or edition of reform, having been presented to him by some of his 
coadjutors in reform upon his instalment into office many months before I had visited 
Washington, or had any knowledge of the proscription then contemplated. The affiant 
doubtless predicates this statement, in part at least, upon one of those two lists which I 
presented to him above mentioned ; it is not probable that he alludes to the first of them, 
which I have called the second edition of reform, because that list (a garbled copy of which, 
if I mistake not, was published in the extra Globe of the 1st of May, 1831) contained com- 
paratively few charges, but consisted chiefly of the names of opposition clerks and officers 
here, that had been turned out, and of others that yet remained in qffic, obnoxious to re- 
form for opinion's sake ; in the compilation of which list I assisted William Hunter, Esq., [d.] 
a clerk of Amos Kendall while 4th Auditor, by his (Kendall's) request conveyed to me by 
his clerk, he retaining one copy for Kendall, and 1 one for General Jackson. This list 
occasioned little or no public excitement, probably because no action that I know of was 
ever taken upon it, more than to plead the forbearance of the President, through the col- 
umns ot the Globe and other party prints, pending the second election campaign of General 
Jackson, then commenced. If the deponent allude* to the second list, accompanied with a 
memorial signed by sundry citizens of Washington, presented to him in May, 1833, then he 
falsifies the origin of it, as just shown, and is mistaken, wilfully or otherwise, in nearly every- 
thing he alleges in regard to it, except that ilwa.sforthvjith referred to the heads of Depart- 
ments, or his cabinet, as I had informed General Cass, his Secretary of War, he would do, 
the morning previous. Whether he ordered its contents to be fully investigated, I know not ; 
but that such investigation v:as made, as he asserts, I can prove to be untrue by tho uni- 
versal recollection of the clerks, and the gentlemen then officiating in his cabinet, by whose 
discountenance, mainly, it was suppressed. And that I failed to establish my charges 
against any one individual charged, I can equally prove to be false,- for a failure to estab- 
lish, implies that I had an opportunity to do so ; whereas, I was denied, on my written ap- 
plication, to he heard, or even to have the witnesses called that had been referred to in 
support of their own statements, though I always understood that they were ready to sub- 
stantiate what they had stated ; and I repeatedly declared my readiness, both verbally and 
in writing, to establish the few facts that I had stated. When I presented to the President 
my written application to be heard, declaring my readiness to go into the investigation ;f 
the statements by testimony, he referred me, by endorsement upon the letter, to Mr. Mc- 
Lane, then Secretary of the Treasury. Mr. McLane, being engaged, or perhaps from a 
determination not to entertain the investigation, did not see me ,■ in consequence of which, 
I repaired directly to the Secretary of War, (General Cass,) as one of the cabinet, and 
presented him with the reference from the President. Upon presenting the letter, with the 
President's endorsation upon it, referring it to Mr. McLane, I remarked to General Cass 
that I had not been able to see Mr. McLane, and that as he (General Cass) would proba- 
bly be a party in the proposed investigation, and would see Mr. McLane, I preferred hand- 
ling the letter to him in person, rather than let it pass out of my hands through a messen- 
ger to Mr. McLane. Upon looking at the superscription, General Cass remarked that 
General Jackson had a way of endorsing every thing; adding, that there would be no in- 
vestigation of the statements, or words tantamount, and remarked to me, " Why sow the 
winds to reap the whirlwind?" To which I replied, that he was perhaps not aware of the 
authority by which the statements had been made out; that as to the participation I had 
in it, I was ready to justify myself with the authority of the President himself, and the co- 
operation of many of his friends, in whom, one or more of them, the project had originated, 
and not in myself; that I was ready to establish the facts I had stated of my own knowl- 
edge, and had no doubt others would do the same in regard to their statements, if permit- 
ted. But, upon thus learning that there would be no investigation, I addressed a letter to 
the President, proposing to withdraw the documents, and about the same time (probably 
the next day) mentioned the fact to the Secretaiy of War, who informed me that he had 
heard of my application to withdraw them,- but that the determination was, that they should 
not be returned, stating that the course adopted was, to address a letter to Mr. De Krafft, 
and other signers of the memorial that accompanied the list or sequel, to inform them of 
the determination taken by the President; and he (General Cass) inquired of me, at the 



16 

i 

same time, if I had not retained a copy. To which I replied that I had not, as it was a long 
document, and General Jackson had been impatient to have it ; that I had a copy of the 
memorial (see Appendix C) and most of the originals, and the rough materials from which 
the sequel accompanying it had been made ; but that it would be impossible to renew the 
copy with exactness, in regard to order, matters omitted, or additional information verbally 
stated to the committee making that copy. Whereupon, he (General Cass) recommend- 
ed me, if I had any thing to urge in that regard, that I would see Major Donelson, tLe pri- 
vate secretary of the President, that morning, who was probably then about despatching 
the letter to the memorialists. I did see Major Donelson accordingly, and understood 
from him the purport above stated, and that, as I was not a signer of the memorial, I was 
not considered as having the right to control it or to ivithdruw it. The President's letter, 
written by his secretary" in his" behalf, was addressed "To E. DrKrafft and others, 
signers of a memorial of sundry citizens of Washington, to the President of the Uni- 
ted States." (See Appendix D). On receiving it, Mr. DeKrafft immediately sent for 
me, and placed it (where it now is, ready to speak for itself) in my hands, the perusal of 
which also shows the determination of the President to retain the memorial and sequel for 
further consideration, and not to act on them for "the present" It is, therefore, not true, 
both according to my own distinct recollection, and General Jackson's own letter to De 
Krafft, that he ever told me I might withdraw the document; and it is absolutely false 
that I ever told him that Major Donelson had returned it to me. It is equally untrue that 
the long list of charges I presented to General Jackson originated in the manner he as- 
serts ; it is not true that a full investigation of said list was ever made ; it is not true that 
I failed, on full investigation, to establish any of those charges, there having been no inves- 
tigation ; it is not true that said list was ever returned to me ; and, as I have just said, it 
is utterly false that I ever told General Jackson that it was given up to me. 1 hope this 
la'ter statement of the deponent was not made with a view to excuse himself from ever 
producing that list hereafter ; if so, the imperfect materials now in my possession, from 
which, in part, it was made out, must tell for it as well as they can at a future time ; and 
in regard to his declaration, that he told me, as a reason for giving that list up to me, 
that those charges being made by me and not established luould now, being on his public 
files, destroy me as a man of truth forever, no man who knows me can believe for a 
moment that such language was ever uttered to me by any one, General Jackson not ex- 
cepted, without instantly having his nose pulled, his jaws slapped, and spit in the face as 
the minimum of his punishment. But suppose, for an instant, that such were a true state- 
ment; then I would ask, what is to be thought of a President of the United States, who 
c • ild'afterwards confer or sanction frequent appointments on one whom he held to be thus 
infamous 1 About twelve months after the date of his letter to De Kraftt, (say in July, 
1834,) at the adjournment of Congress, he called me to him as he took his seat in his car- 
riage,' (the Vice President, Mr. Van Buren, seated by his side— Mr. Taney, General Cass, 
and I think Mr. Forsyth, were present, just taking their carriages on leaving the capital,) 
and requested me to " come to-morrow morning'' to the mansion. And what was it for ? 
To instruct me to call on the Secretary of State, who would give me an appointment to fill 
the vacancy of Alexander Mclntyre, who had just been removed from the chief clerkship 
in the Patent Office. Also, in October, 1836, he approved of my appointment as sole 
clerk in a temporary bureau in the War Department— a bureau of great intricacy, and ex- 
tremely delicate trust, in which I officiated nearly two years without ever hearing of tbj| 
slightest dissatisfaction, until the false clamor was raised that I had purloined the copy of 
General Jackson's letter to Fulton, whereupon I was removed from office without a hearing— 
probably because such a hearing would put the whole conspirators to shame. But I regret 
not, now, that injustice, because I now have the -prospect ok a more full and fair 

INVESTIGATION BEFORE ME. 

In fine, there can be nothing more obvious, upon a survey of this whole. subject, than 
the reflection that, had I the imbecility to pronounce General Jackson's action upon the 
conspiracy of Houston all sufficient, hail I the servility to glorify him upon it, this cal- 
umny of purloining would never have been thought of ! 

I hope my counsel will be able to find some assistance from this expose, in making their 
briefs in the cause ; and I cheerfully grant to the opposing counsel all the benefit they can 

derive from it in the defence. 

ROBERT MA\0. 

Washington City. December 23, 1839. 



APPENDIX. 



By a careful examination of the following documents, [A] and [C], with the respective 
actions on them, [B] and [D], the reader will perceive how each of the former is virtually 
falsified in the two latter, and set at naught by the President. To assist in this comparison, 
I will only here make a single general remark in relation to document [A], that no exami- 
nation of witnesses had been made, to my knowledge, to justify the President in saying, 
in document [B], that no facts had been established, and he was induced to believe the 
circumstances communicated to him were erroneous. And in relation to document [C], 
that its prayer did not ask for the removal of any one, as he more than insinuates in docu- 
ment [D], but submits the statements for such disposition as to his excellency might seem 
fit and proper, &c. In fine, I shall ever be of opinion that the documents [A] and [C] 
were entitled to a more efficient action ; but the reader can only appreciate the entire mer- 
its on a future perusal of the whole of the documents. 



[A.] 
[Original letter addressed to the President in 1830, and returned in 1836] 



a b - 


c d- 
ij- 


ef 


g h- 


kl- 


m iv 


op- 


qr- 




" To General Andrew Jackson. President of the United Stales: 

" The enclosed is the scheme of a Secret Alphabet, in the hand-writing of a Mr. Hunter, which came into 
my possession in the manner hereinafter mentioned, and which I confide to your excellency, toeether with 
the following statement of facts, to be used in any way your excellency may dtem proper. Written out, the 
Alphabet stands thus : 

[In the original letter, the thirteen compartments of the abov« diagram are separated into their elements, 
consisting of two letters each, distinguished by a dot; that is, a and b are the same, except that o has a dot ; 
and so on with the rest, giving the entire alphabet.] 

"In making the following statement, it seems to me desirable, with a view to brevity, without impairing 
or obscuring the facts, to avoid that circumlocution which a minute detail of contingent and immaterial cir- 
cumstances would involve. 

" Some time in the month of February last, as nearly as I can recollect— certainly very shortly after Gen- 
eral Samuel Houston arrived in this city — I was introduced to him at Brown's hotel, where both of us had 
taken lodgings Our rooms were on the same floor, and convenient for social intercourse ; which, from the 
general's courteous manners, and my own desire to be enabled to do him justice in my own estimation, rel- 
ative to his abandoning his family and abdicating the Government of Tennessee, readily became frequent 
and intimate. Upon what he perhaps deemed a suitable maturity of acquaintance, he spoke freely and mi- 
nutely of his past history. He spoke of his separation from Mrs. H. with great sensibility, and deprecated 
the injurious impression it had made upon a considerable portion of the public mind, disparaging the sanity 
i f his intellect, or rectitude of his moral character. Judging favorably, no doubt, of the progress of our 
acquaintance, and the prepossessing impression it had made on me in relation to the salubrity and general 
competency of his intelligence, with rectitude of impulses, he complained of the inadequate defence vol- 
unteered in his behalf by the editor of the Richmond Enquirer, and solicited me to write communications 
for the columns of that paper, and use my friendly interest with the editor for their publication. I promised 
to make a sketch of something anonymous respecting my favorable impressions, and show it to him. But, 
before I had time or full pliancy of mind to digest any thoughts upon the subject, our frequent interviews, 
and his confidence in my serving his ends, doubtless, induced him to avow to me more particularly the 
ground of his solicitude to have his character and mental competency elevated before the public. He des- 
canted on the immense field for enterprise in the Indian settlement beyond the Mississippi, and through 
that, as a stepping-stone, in Texas ; and recommended me to direct my destinies that way. Without making 
any promises or commitments, I did not discourage, at this stage, his inflated schemes for my advancement, 
as I had a curiosity, now on tip-toe, to hear his romantic projections; for his manner and his enthusiasm were, 
at least, entertaining. Accordingly, he went on to develop much of a systematic enterprise, but not half 
what I have since learnt from another source ; perhaps because he discovered that my interest in the subject 
did not keep pace wilh the anticipations he had formed for the progress of his disclosures. I learnt fromnim 
these facts and speculations, viz : 

" That he was organizing an expedition against Texas ; to afford a cloak to which, he had assumed the In- 
dian costume, habits, and associations, by settling among them, in the neighborhood of Texas. That nothing 
was more easy to accomplish than the conquest and possession of that extensive and fertile country, by the 



IS 

c i-operaiion of the Indians in ihe Arkansas Territory, and recruits among the citizens of the United States 
That in his view it would hardly be necessary to strike a blow to wrest Texas from Mexico. That it was 
ample for the establishment and maintenance of a separate and independent government from the United 
States. That the expedition would be got ready with all possible despatch— thai the demonstration would 
and must be made in about twelve months from that time- That the event of 'success opened the most un 
bounded prospects of wealth to those who would embark in it ; and that it was with a view to facilitate his 
recruits, he wished to elevate himself in the public confidence by the aid of my communications to the Rich- 
mond Enquirer. That I should have a surgeoncy in the expedition, and recommended me in the mean time 
10 remove along with him, and practise physic among the Indians in the Territory. 

" As the matter began to assume the shape of a close and substantial proposiiion, I felt myself under the 
necessity to be decisive, w.hich put an end to the further detail of his plans. I declined the overtures for my 
participation ; and farther told him, by way of exonerating myself from the promise to make communications 
to the Enquirer, without exciting his apprehensions of my active hostility to his views, that it would be very 
impolitic to attract the public attention towards himself in that general and indiscriminate manner ; that it 
would surely invite inquiry from some quarter about the motives of such communications, which would prob- 
ably issue in ferreting oui his whole scheme. Afterthis, our interviews fell into neglect — our intercourse con- 
sisted only of salutations of civility— he sought not my company, and, as a matter of prudence, I ratheravoid- 
ed his. 

"In the early pan of our intercourse, General Houston informed me that he had volunteered to assure the 
President that he had no desire for an appointment of any sort under his administration ; that he believed 
ihe President, would give him almost any thing he would request ; but that he took into consideration the 
prejudice with which an appointment conferred on him might be regarded by the public, subsisting the cir- 
cumstances and causes of his exile. Yet, I have understood from indisputable authority that General Hous- 
ton did apply for and solicit th? appointment to furnish provisions, &c, for the Indians, &c, at the charge of 
the Unite*! States, in that quarter ; which was denied him. But, whether that wish has not been, as to his 
views, sufficiently substituted by the successful application of a most intimate friend of his, (General Van 
Forsen, lately of New York,) is a problem perhaps not unworthy of inquiry. In the month of Blarch, General 
Houston visited Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York, and did intend to have gone as far as Boston, as he 
informed me, under such circumstances as made tl* inference of his business a matter hardly to bo doubted. 
" Sometime in the month of June, shortly after the adjournment of Congress, (or possibly in May, a short 
lime before adjournment,) having returned to Richmond, I met with a young gentleman in that place by the 
name of Murray, from Tennessee, on his return home through the southern States. 1 had become acquainted 
with him, in this city, early in the winter. He had also told me that he wanted no employment from the Gov- 
ernment, but was travelling rather for his personal gratification. A considerable portion of the winter he had 
pa&sed in a town to the north. When I called on him in Richmond, I made an oblique turn of conversation, 
upon the mysterious conduct of General Houston ; and expressed a surmise that he must have some very 
deep views in exiling himself from the civilized world, to settle among the Indians. This, Mr. Murray 
readily confirmed, apparently, as if he thought it a perfectly innocent and legitimate matter, or as a thing of 
common rumor, and of no concern to him— by remarking that the general was organizing an expedition to 
take possession of Texas. Upon my asking him how he knew that, he replied, 'that it was a good deal 
spoken of at Washington.' I did not press the subject sufficiently to satisfy my mind whether it was by com- 
mon rumor, or among recruits only, that Mr. Murray meant it was spoken of, as Mr. M's movements indi- 
cated to me some agency in the business ; and too much curiosity on my part, after having declined co-oper- 
ation, with which he might already be,or might become acquainted, would possibly excite alarm, and induce 
the parties to remodel their plan with greater secrecy and security. • 

" Shortly after my return to this city, a few weeks ogo, a BTr. "Hunter, lately dismissed from West Point, 
came to take lodgings in the house where I boarded. He presently discovered himself to be very indiscreet, 
and boastful of Himself, whether in relation to advantages real or imaginary. On a visit to my apartment, 
being in pecuniary embarrassments, and unable to redeem his baegage from the house he last boarded at, he 
fell to boasting of the funds he was daily expecting by the mail, of his' father's present riches, and still greater 
wealth before nis misfortunes, and of his own possessions, independent of his father, whereof he had already 
spent five thousand dollars in enjoying life. But, says he, all that is nothing to the unbounded prospects I 
have of wealth in the future. Indeed ! said I, how is it that you can engender wealth to r.pair your extrava- 
gance with such facility 1 Ah, says he, that is a secret. I will lay my life, said I, it is a scheme upon Texas. 
He, hesitatingly, said yes, something like it. And, said I, General Houston is the projector and conductor of 
the enterprise. ' At this he was so impressed with the conviction that 1 knew all about the plan, and was one 
of the recruits, that he declared it to be his belief, and asked me some questions to that effect. I declined an- 
swerins, remarking that I did not believe he knew any thing about it, and should tell him nothing. Upon 
this issue, to vindicate his knowledge and alleged fraternity ,~he set in to tell me every thing. 

" Says he, there is your name, (writing my name on the table in cipher, where it yet stands unobliterated.) 
1 was still incredulous. He asked for pen, ink, and paper, and wrote the scheme here enclosed, and then 
wrote hit name at the bottom. 

" That he was a bona fide agent of the recruiting service for this District ; and that there were agencies es 
tablished in all the principal towns, and various parts of the United States; and that this conventional alpha- 
bet was the channel of correspondence. Thai several thousands had already enlisted along the sea board, 
from New England to Georgia, inclusive. That each man paid thirty dollars to the common fund, and took 
an oath of secrecy and good faith to the cause, on joining the pany. That they were to repair, in their indi- 
vidual capacities, as travellers, to different points on the banks of the Mississippi, where they had already 
chartered steamboats, on which to embark, and thence ply to their rendezvous, somewhere in the Territory 
of Arkansas, or Texas, convenient for action, (the plan not specified to me.) That it was contemplated to 
supersede General Houston in the civil government, when the military operations were over; and that they 
meant to establish an independent Government, and resist any attempt of the United Stales to wrest so val- 
uable a prize from them. - -. : ' ■ 

" He finally appealed to me a?ain, with some concern, to say if I were not one pf the party. I observed, that 
I should tell him nothing about it; and changed the subject to some levity, and afterwards avoided his further 
importunities, &c. 

" I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

"P. MAYO 

" Washington City, D C , Dece?nber 2, 1830." 

[B.] 

("Strictly confidential.) 

' Washington, December 10, 1830. 

" Deak Sir : It has been stated to me that an extensive expedition aeainst Texas is organizing in the Ui.i- 
led States, with a view to the establishment of an independent Government in that province-, and that Gen- 



19 

sral Houston is to be at the head of it. From all the circumstances communicated to me upon this subject, 
■and which have fallen under my observation, 1 am induced to beiieve and hope (notwithstanding the cir- 
cumstantial manner in which ilis related to me) that the information r have received is erroneous, and it is 
unnecessary that I should add my sincere wish that it may be so. No movements have been made, nor have 
any facts been established, which would require or would justify the adoption of official proceedings 
against individuals implicated; yet so strong is the detestation of the criminal steps alluded to, and such 
are my apprehensions of the extent to ivhich the peace and honor of the country might be compromitted by 
it, as to make me anxious to do every thing short of it which may serve to elicit the truth, and to furnish me. 
with the necessary facts (if they exist) to lay ^foundation of further measures. 

" It is said that enlistments have been made for the enterprise in various parts of the Union ; that the con- 
federates are to repair, as travellers, to different points pt the Mississippi, where they have already char- 
tered steamboats in which to embark ; that the point of rendezvous is to be in the Arkansas Territory ; and 
that the cooperation of the Indians is looked to by those engaged in the contemplated expedition. 

" I know of no one whose situation will belter enable him to watch the course of things, and keep me truly 
and constantly advised of any movements which may serve to justify the suspicions which arc entertained, 
than yourself ; and I know I can rely with confidence on your fidelity and activity. To secure your exer- 
tions in that regard, is the object of this letter; and it is because 1 wish it to be considered rather as a private 
than an official act, that it is addressed to you instead of the Governor, (who is understood to be now in 
Kentucky.) 

" The course to be pursued to effect the object in view must of necessity be left to your discretion, enjoining 
only that the utmost secrecy be observed on your part. If, in the performance of the duty required of you, 
any expenses are necessarily incurred by you, I will see they are refunded. 
"I am, respectfully, yours. 

'•ANDREW JACKSON. 

•• Wm. Fulton, Esq." 

[C] 

" The memorial of sundry citizens of Washington, to his Excellency Andrew Jagkson, President of the 

United 'States, Greeting : 

•' Your memorialists respectfully bez leave to approach your Excellency with the most grateful sensibili- 
ties for the benefits which have accrued, and are daily maturing, through the instrumentality of your aus- 
picious administration, in advancing the prosperity of our common country, by the happy adjustment of our 
foreign relations, and the conciliatory propitiation 'of our internal discontents. 

" But your memorialists are not unaware of the humiliating truth, that, while the details of these momen- 
tous concerns have continually received the most prompt consideration and efficient action because they 
are under the more immediate recognition and control of your Excellency, they constitute but a comparatively 
remote object of concern with the citizens of Washington, and affect them only in their small participations 
with the all-absorbing commercial and manufacturing interests of the Union at large. Whereas, the details 
of the official responsibility and moral deportment in the minor officers of the Government, located here, 
while they more closely affect the interests and character of the citizens of "Washington, they are of vastly 
inferior executive consideration, and are too remote from your personal supervisorship for any delinquency 
therein to reach your knowledge for correction, except by the volunteer information of those directly cogni 
Bant of the facts and most deeply interested in their reformation. 

"That the citizens of Washington may have a more minute knowledge of official abuses and moral de 
pravity at the seat of government, and feel a deeper interest in their correction, than any other portion of the 
Union, your memorialists presume to believe your Excellency will yield a ready assent. Your memorialist;-, 
also entertain the belief that the national character, both at home and? abroad, is necessarily assimilated to, 
and tinctured by, that of the Metropolis ; while the character of its citizens must be still more immediately 
identified with the official integrity and moral deportment of the officers of Government residing among them, 
forming as they do so great a proportion of its tempoimry inhabitants. 

" Furthermore, your memorialists cannot suppress the heart-rending conviction that the rapid growth and 
nurture of fraud, alone, at the seat of government, evincing in many instances the most awful want of integ 
rity and obduracy of conscience in the servants of the people, tends more to alienate their affections from 
the sacred union of the States, than all the local and sectional incongruities taken in a mass. Nay, your me- 
morialists may add, that the audacity of defaulters within a few years, and of recent date, together with a fre 
quent repetition of minor improprieties of daily notoriety, bear a striking analogy to the oft-repeated and 
daring infractions of law and decorum in the dense population of large towns, where the calculation seems to 
be, that the delinquent will be lost sight of in the crowd, or, if seen, that he will be borne in countenance by 
the depraved gratulations of an extensive fraternity. Nor can your memorialists resist the belief that any 
grade of unofficerly conduct is but a miniature, in its own degree, of the most atrocious outrage, and, while re- 
garded with too much lenity, is only nurtured in its tendency to the grossest results. 

" Under this aspect of a subject interesting, in a remote degree, to the whole Union, but vital in its bear- 
ings on the interests and character of the Metropolis, your memorialists beg leave to submit to the considera- 
tion of your Excellency the accompanying statements and specifications, vouched for by respectable names 
and references; and pray your Excellency will grant such relief in the premises as to your Excellency may 
reem lit ajicl proper, whether by removal of the incumbents in the more objectionable cases, and the inter- 
diction of the future repetition of the minor offences, or otherwise dispose of the same as may best con- 
duce to the interest of the Metropolis, secure the credibility of the public service, and preserve the affection 
of the people fir the perpetuity of the Federal Government; and your memorialists will ever pray," &c. 

(Signed by twenty or thirty citizens.) 

[D.] 

( The envelope of the letter, of which the following is a copy, had this address: " To E. 
Dc Krafft and others, signers of a memorial of sundry citizens of Washington to the 
President of the. United States.'"] 

" Washington, May 29, 1833. 

•• Gentlemen : 1 am directed by the President of the U nited Slates to slate to you the determination which 
he had taken upon your memorial and the paper accompanying it, previously to the application for their with- 
drawal, made yesterday by Dr. Mayo. 

" Many of the allegations contained in the paper entitled " A Sequel to the Memorial," and which was de- 
livered with the memorial to the President, are not such as would warrant the removal of the individuals ac- 
cused, even if they should prove to be veil founded. The President, moreover, has been informed, in wri- 
ting, by several of those whose name* w subscribed to the memorial, that they had neverseen the " Sequel;" 



20 

that they had no knowledge of the accusations therein contained , and that they desire to disclaim all cori. 
nexion whatever with it. 

" Under these circumstances, the President does not deem these papers of such a nature as at present to 
require or authorize his particular interference. The character of the President, however, is a sufficient 
guaranty that, whenever specific charges of incompetence or official misconduct shall be made by your- 
selves, or responsible individuals, against any person in office, he will promptly direct such an investigation 
as the good of the service and justice to all parties shall require. 

" Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

" A. J. -DONELSON. 

" To E. De Krafft and others, memorialists." 

After all that had transpired, of high advisement and approved preparation, I will leave 
the reader to judge with what profound astonishment I received a message from Mr. Ed- 
ward De Krafft, requesting me to peruse so evasive a letter! True, I had learned that there 
would he no action upon the matters stated in the sequel to the memorial, and for that rea- 
son had requested leave to withdraw them, in order to use them in obedience to any emer- 
gency ; but, as luck would have it, they were refused, and I have had the ineffable satis- 
faction to find, in justification of»those statements, that all the reform which has taken place 
since has fallen upon General Jackson's own delinquents, then and afterwards called to 
his notice, in the General Post Office, the Land Office, the Patent Office, &c. &c. 

The movement taken by several signers of the memorial, in disclaiming all connex- 
ion with it, on account of the charges preferred in the sequel to it, ought, perhaps, to bf 
explained here, lest it should be considered as prima facie condemnation of the document, 
which the explanation will show was not the fact. Let it first be observed that many oi 
the signers of the memorial adhered to the prayer of the memorial that an investigation 
should be had ; and that therefore the withdrawal of others should not properly have fore- 
stalled inquiry from the President, under whose encouraging countenance and approbation 
the document had been made out and presented. Next, let it be considered that several 
of the signers of the memorial who seceded from it, had, themselves, preferred many of the 
charges embraced in the sequel ; but, upon learning that some of their own personal friends 
were also indicted by others, they, in order to save those friends from inquiry, took measures 
to nullify the document. Such, I personally know, was the cause of Mr. DeKrafft's with- 
drawal. He was the first signer of the memorial; he made many of the charges embraced 
in the sequel ; and he was the first to withdraw to save his friend. It was a very easy mat- 
ter to get others to follow that example ; and I was afterwards emphatically told by one of 
the indicted that the failure of investigation was occasioned by the great number included 
in the bill, combining to defeat it — the memorialists being, all of them, political friends of 
the Administration, as well as i recollect; and, there being very many friends of the Ad- 
ministration included in the bill, it was easy to effect such a compromise as would exoner- 
ate all from the scrutiny of a time-serving Administration. Nor need any one marvel at 
such a result who is at all conversant with that animal instinct by which the lion, the fox,, 
and the jackal coalesce against the community of the forest; of which, it appears, we have 
had a recent illustration in another sphere of the animal creation ! 

Another Jackson Affidavit — Executive Chicanery — A New Coalition — 

Threatened Revolution. 

It is a sufficiently remarkable fact to claim a passing notice here, that, at the very mo- 
ment I am concluding this exposition of the foregoing scandalous affidavit, in which Gen- 
eral JackBon assumes to be so wonderfully minute in his recollection of comparatively 
trivial incidents which he alleges to have taken place in 1833, Samuel L. Gouverneur. 
Esq., late postmaster of New York, is actually exposing, by a seiies of numbers in the 
New York Courier and Enquirer, the falsehoods of another affidavit of General Jackson, 
given in the suit of the Post Office Department against Mr. Gouverneur — in which suit 
Mr. Gouverneur, as I understand, claimed offsets to a large amount, for loans or advances 
to the Post Office Department while it was under the management of William T. Barry, 
Esq., and proves by living witnesses and documentary evidence that those loans were made 
with the approbation and grateful acknowledgments of the late President himself; of which, 
nevertheless, in his said affidavit, he utterly denies having any recollection, and attempts 
to disprove the facts by a series of other alleged recollections, which he states with the 
same unscrupulous air of confidence and boldness as he does the matters he sets forth in 
the foregoing affidavit. I have seen two only of five numbers of Mr. Gouverneur's re- 
view of the affidavit in his case. If General Jackson did consult Mr. Taney, as he says he 
did, it only proves that he could take counsel of a saint, for form's sak«, while he follows th? 



21 

instigation of the Fiend of Darkness All must award him skill, however, in providing 
confidants on the one hand, and dupes on the other, as safety-valves to guard the duplicity 
of his acts from detection ; but by a providential deficiency in some of those very guards, 
to use a modern technicality, he has burst his boiler after all. I take the following extract 
from the fourth number of Mr. G., in the Courier of the 24th December ultimo : 

" To the third question the then President replies : ' He has no personal knowledge of any loans made by 
the Postmaster General on his authority. He heard, in Boston, that loans from banks bad been made by that 
officer or his agents to sustain the Department; but no such loans were ever authorized by this deponent 
On the contrary, he always told the Postmaster General he had no authority to borrow money on the faith <>! 
the Government, whatever he might do in his individual capacity ; nor did he ever directly or indirectly as- 
sert the right of the Postmaster General to borrow money, except on his own responsibility ; and such was the 
opinion of the Secretary, Mr. Taney, communicated by him, in my presence, to the Postmaster General 
To be more explicit on this point, the view entertained by this deponent, of the power of the head of the 
Post Office Department, was, that he could not commit the Government in a loan of money ; that there was 
no law to authorize it; that he must carry on the Department on its own legal means, by its proper credit 
alone, and his own responsibility.' " 

In refutation of this statement of General Jackson, in answer to the third question in be- 
half of the Post Office Department, Mr. Gouvemeur shows that James A. Hamilton, Esq., 
of New York, made "a liberal offer to Mr. Barry to lend the Department money ;" which 
offer "was enclosed open to the then President himself;" and that " Mr. Barry's reply to 
Hamilton, received directly from the President, was produced in court." Mr. Gouverneui 
also says, " an original letter of William T. Barry, dated the 8th March, 1834, is now 
before me" — from which he quotes these words: "Congress will sustain the President in 
his course. We shall have to rely on the aid of State banks, and the President assures me 
that the Seventh Ward Bank shall be remembered." [This was shortly after and during 
the removal of the deposites.] Remembered "for what?" says Mr. Gouvernenr. "At two 
moments of the greatest pressure they had lent the Post Office Department about $60, 000." 
Mr. Gouvemeur continues: "Another original letter from William T. Barry, of the 12th 
April, 1834, is now before me. He says, 'The matter between myself and Hamilton in 
confidential. T have conversed with the President. He knows all about it, and says it i* 
right.' The letter proceeds to say, ' He (the then President) says it is my privilege to 
borrow of whoever will lend, and obtain all the aid I can in passing through my difficul 
ties.' " I shall make no further extracts on this affidavit of the man-of-affidavits ! 3 
presume these are sufficient to give the reader some idea of the sort of man I have had to 
deal with, in executing co/nmissions to assist in compiling information fr.r Executive action, 
as I understood it, in redeeming a public pledge of salutary reform, What I did was in 
good faith, with the expectation of a general investigation. of the actual condition of the 
public service in the several Departments, and that it would result in the establishment of 
uniform rules of administration in each, with a strict accountability and fidelity to the pub- 
lic service. But General Jackson's treachery towards me in that case, as may be seen in 
the above letter to De Krafft, (leaving me in the false position of a volunteer of proscrip- 
tion, which he in fact set on foot, and which I in fact arrested, by including his own favor 
ites as well as the intended victims of proscription,) was but the beginning of the numer- 
ous other instances yet to be recited in my foithcoming book. 

Executive chicanery is at all times a difficult skein to unravel. And, besides the elu- 
sive mercurial properties of the subject itself, there are great impediments thrown in the 
way of such investigations in this country, from the unsuspecting confidence naturally be- 
stowed by a liberal-minded people on their chosen agents, presumed to be fully worthy of 
their trust ; 60 that, under any circumstances, much mischief might be done by ambitious, 
recreant ingrates, in the way of Executive abuses and usurpation, before suspicion could 
be awakened, or ejection from office, arrest its progress. And yet, viewed in a party light, 
the evil is still greater, as it has become almost the universal practice of those who have 
contributed their votes and their personal influence to elect a Chief Magistrate, to gran* 
him a carte blanche for whatever he may think proper to do, and to cast odium and re- 
proach upon the motives of those who would dare to scrutinise the propriety of Executive con- 
duct ; whereas it would be a much safer rule for all patriotic citizens, after exerting their besi 
efforts to confer high trusts even upon the most eminent men of their own party, to keep ;< 
vigilant watch upon them, and hold them to as strict accountability as if they had b en 
umong the most active opposers of their selection. In the course of the late administration, 
and so far as the present has progressed, (which is properly but a continuance of the pre- 
ceding,) this unqualified sanction of their act* by their party adherents has been extended 
not only to the hearty support of wild innovations and lawless experiments, never thought, 
of before they were installed — not only to the justification of practices that had been dis - 



22 

claimed and denounced by them in order to insure their election— bur they have been ad- 
hered to, and their friends conjured to sink or swim with them, notwithstanding the mul- 
tiplied infractions of the constitution and law, and a contemptuous defiance of the legis- 
lative and judicial authorities, until at length we see that engulphing Tiers Etat (reversing 
the order of the French revolution) virtually realized by the consolidation of the State and 
Federal Governments into an executive absolute, so long predicted ! Of this fact, the 
recent demonstrations of Executive influence in all the State elections, reducing them, as 
it were, to a provincial subserviency to the will of a despot, is one evidence ; it is also de- 
monstrated by the Executive influence more recently exerted over the organization of the 
House of Representatives, to the exclusion of the New Jersey delegation — virtually nulli- 
fying a sovereign State, by means of a corrupt coalition (as goes the rumor reversing the 
direction of the thunder of nullification) with the boasted champion of the State-rights party, 
entered into, doubtless, for their reciprocal benefit, at the dear cost of their country — that is, 
in order to insure an executive party character to the officers and the committees of the 
House, to ward oft* investigations of Executive abuses and corruption, to secure the re-elec- 
tion of the present incumbent, on the one part, and to enable him to indemnify his wronged 
antagonist on a former occasion, on the other part, by bestowing, on him the reversion of 
the presidency hereafter, as General Jackson had done to him of the first part, when, by 
their united artifices, they succeeded in supplanting their present hireling and coadjutor, 
©/ the second part.* Again : the fact of virtual consolidation is demonstrated in the denun- 
ciations of the recent Executive message against yet other reserved rights of the States, in 
relation to their corporate institutions, whose constitutionality and stability are assailed in 
.still more systematic terms, in a fourth attempt to dictate to Congress the establishment 
of an unconstitutional mammoth federal institution as the inevitable foundation of an over- 
towering national bank, that will swallow up all the State institutions ; and, to cap the cli- 
max of Executive arrogance, he urges this latter measure with redoubled audacity, by ad- 
dressing himself to the fears of the Representatives of the people, holding up to their 
imaginations the terrors of an. awful alternative, bloody revolution, if a peaceful revolu- 
tion cannot be wrung from their quailing hearts. For revolution is his aim, as he so 
denominates the reform he, for the fourth time, urges upon Congress, to be effected by 
the establishment of a paramount independent treasury, (miscalled, by design, a sub- 
treasury,) but truly a mammoth, bank in disguise, which he connects with, and makes 
-in indispensible reciprocating agent in, the destruction of all State corporations whatever. 
In fine, it is still more clearly ;vnd unequivocally demonstrated, when we see, in the last 
paragraph but one of his message, that he endorses the very counterpart expression of 



' Since the above was written, this coalition has been ill. substance formally acknowledged on the floor of 
the Senate by one of tlte high contracting parties, accompanied, however, with efforts at explanation, whicli 
rather aggravate tlian extenuate the offence, for obvious reasons. The same is also confirmed in more ex 
plicit form, and bearing evidence of official misdernearior, in one of Mr. Calhoun's recent letters to his for- 
mer friend, General Green, on the latter gentleman becoming a candidate for the office of printer to the 
(louse of Representatives of the present Congress. Upon that occasion, Mr. Calhoun, though ;t member of a 
co-ordinate and counterpoising brunch of the Legislature, and therefore having no right, consistently with 
rules of honor and delicacy, to interfere with the election of officers in the vital organization of the House of 
Representatives, held the following extraordinary language: 

■'I came to llie city under the impression that our principles and policy on which we acted would compel 
us [meaning himself of the Senate and his party adherents in the other House] to act with the administra- 
tion, ip Ihcy would adh re to the course which tliey had taken ; and thai our proper course would be, to let 
them [meaning the administration] elect their o-on officers, [that is, assist them in it,] including the printer 
to the House, [meaning the editorial organs of the administration, who had already been elected by ' the ad- 
ministration,' as Mr. Calhoun would express it, as printers to the Senate,] in order that we mi'ght, with 
greater propriety and effect, [according to bargain and compromise, implied or expressed,) insist on that 
course of measures which wc believe to be essential to the interests op the country ! !" 

Here, th°n, the bargain by which the vital organization. of the House of Representatives is bartered away 
10 "the administration'' by an aspiring member of the Senate, is distinctly admitted and unblushingly 
avowed ; or where could be the necessity " to lakp such a course of policy" under the pretence of insisting 
on the administration (for the interests of the country !) doing what they had already assumed, and pledged 
their best exertions to do, without Mr. Calhoun's aid ! If lie meant to aid them in the Senate, which it was 
his privilege to do, he should have been content to d»i that, without interfering with the independent action 
oi the co-ordinate branch of the Legislature, which virtually paralyzes the constitutional check Of the pop- 
ular representation upon the. Executive and the Senate, and in effect lends to place the whole legislative 
power between the fingere of the Executive. 

Is it not thus made certain, to the comprehension of all, that the party friends of Mr. Calhoun acted r!i 
reclly under his control, for the indirect benefit of the Executive, in the organization of the House of Rep- 
resentatives ; and, as a means more effectually to accomplish his views, aided in excluding the New Jersey 
deleeation, in violation of the laws and the constitution, as well as an infringement of the prerogative of the 
House.'? Well might General Green say, upon this occasion " that Mr. Calhoun, by his coalition with Mr. 
Tan Buren, lias lost his moral influence, and, in his opinion, that General Harrison must be elected." 



23 

A.mos Kendall, denounced in his Hickory Club address, in 1832,* against all corporations 
as "a young nobility system," against which General Jackson had aimed the first 
blow of destruction— when we see he endorses the like, but perhaps more sweep- 
ing denunciation, by his leader in the Senate, Mr. Wright, launched forth in a speech 
delivered before his democratic constituents during the recess, in which he declared 
that, the glorious revolution of our patriotic forefathers was not yet complete ; that we 
have yet " to rid ourselves of the aristocracy" of this land of liberty ! and how 1 by cut- 
ting off the head, and dividing the spoils, of her principal citizens, where, it was supposed 
that industry was patronised and property protected ! I grant that this endorsement is 
made in Mr. Van Buren's accustomed indirect, parenthetical, and equivocal manner ; but 
it is not the less ardently meant, and for which, if any thing, he should be held the more 
responsible. Grant, I say, that it is only brought in by a side wind, after a long tirade 
against the abuses of all State corporations, which, by changing a single term, would be a 
better description of the Federal Executive abuses that gave existence to that immense pro- 
geny of corporations, and the relaxed morals of the guardians into whose hands they have 
been intrusted. Let the reader peruse and ponder upon the following extract with which 
Mr. Van Buren concludes his denunciation of all corporations, as "a system of exclusive 
privileges conferred by partial legislation," and then say, if he dare, that the President of the 
United States has not most solemnly invoked the demon of bloody revolution against the 
institutions of the sovereign States of this confederacy, "whenever it becomes necessary" 
to accomplish that great and radical revolution, which he insists must be done, per fas 
aut nefas — peaceably if he can, forcibly if he must ! 

" To remove the influences which had thus gradually grown up among us— lo deprive them of their decep- 
tive advantages— to test them by the light of wisdom and truth— to oppose the force which they concentrate 
in their support—all this was necessarily the work of time, even among a people so enlightened and pure as 
that of the United States. In most other countries^ perhaps, it could only be accomplished through that series 
of revolutionary movements, which are too often tound necessary lo effect any great and radical reform ; but 
it is the crowning merit of our institutions, that they create and nourish, in the vast majority of our people, 
a disposition ana a power peaceably to remedy abuses which have elsewhere caused the effusion of rivers 
of olood, and the sacrifice of thousands of the human race. The result thusfar is most honorable lo the self- 
denial, the intelligence, and the patriotism of our citizens; it justifies the confident hope that they will carry 
through the reform which has been so well begun, and ihafthey will go still farther than they have yel 
gone in illustrating the important truth, that a people as free and enlightened as ours will, whenever it be- 
comes necessary, show themselves to be indeed capable of self-government, by voluntarily adopting appro- 
priate remedies for every abuse, and submitting tn temporary sacrifices, however great, to insure their 
permanent welfare." 

The progress of the revolutionary spirit here referred to, is so stealthily commended and 
urged onward to bloodshed and civil war, that it may require a somewhat closer inspec- 
tion than a cursory perusal to appreciate it fully. I shall therefore write out the last sen- 
tence, and, by aid of that powerful interpreter, innuexdo, interline, in brackets, the allu- 
sions with which it is pregnant, and quote them as they are set forth in the preceding pas- 
sages, and elsewhere, by co-workers in the same scheme of revolution, by way of exhibit- 
ing, in the most unequivocal manner, what the President would be at. 

He says : "The result, thus fak, [meaning the result of our ' great and radical re- 
form,' that enterprise of a faction to destroy all our corporate institutions, State and 
Federal,] is most honorable to the sele-dextal, the intelligence, and the patriotism of 
our citizens; [meaning the 'self-denial' of 'the vast majority of our people, ' that is, 
the democracy of numbers, in abstaining from the rare and exquisite luxury indulged 
in by 'most other countries,' 'in the effusion of rivers of blood, and the sacrifice of 



* All the allusions of this buttender of the President's message were most graphically prefigured in the 
address of Amos Kendall to the Hickory Club festival of the 5th December, 1832." These were his latal words ; 

" The United States have their young nobility system. Its head is the Bank of the United States ; its 
right arm a protecting tariff and manufacturing monopolies ; its left, groici?ig State debts and State incor 
porations. 

" The veto of our illustrious President, so triumphantly sustained by the people, has bruised the head of 
the young serpent. Be it our duty, and that of the people, to see that it never recovers from the 
blow !" [Accordingly, in less than twelve months, this soothsayer removed the deposites, and administered 
the surfeit lo the other banks.] 

" The manufacturing monopolies are, if possible, a greater curse ! ' It is an error lo say their evils fall 
exclusively upon the South. They do more injury to the people of the States where they are located than 
to any others," &c, &c. 

it would now be superfluous to say that facts upon facts are strongly developing the probability that we 
have had a Maelzel to superintend the political chess-board of two Presidents, who, as successive autom- 
atons exposed to public view, have made the moves indicatedfrom. behind the curtain ! Thus has he, 
by favor of his ensconced position, been the great manufacturer of public opinion, by the monopoly of which 
he has made much, and may yet for a season make more ; but will the American peiple long submit to such 
a humiliation i 



24 

thousands .V/ the human race,' their fellow-citizens, in effecting ' radical reforms' — 'in- 
telligence and patriotism' being put in as masks to 'self-denial,-'] it [meaning 'the result 
thus far'] justifies the confident hope that they [the democracy of numbers] will carry 
through the reform which has been so well begun; [meaning the destruction of all 
said corpnate institutions whatsoever, 'so well begun' by the destruction of the United 
States Bank, 'the head of our young nobility system,' effected by the joint operation of 
the veto of the bill for its recharter, and the removal of the deposites, producing also the 
late apoplectic, and present collapsed condition of the Slate banks, by the surfeit of the 
deposites transferred to them for that put-pose,-] and that they will go still further than 
they have tet gone [with these 'revolutionary movements'] in illustrating the important 
truth, that a people as free and enlightened as ours [meaning the 'greatest numbers/'*] 
will, whenever it becomfs NECESSARY, show themselves to be indeed capable of 
self-uovernment [in executing the rule of the mob, in defiance of law, the obligation 
of contracts, and the vested rights of property, upon the Jack Cade principle of 'living 
in common'] by voluntarily [meaning wilfully] adopting appropriate bemedies for 
every abuse [according to their interpretation, under the impulses of arbitrary passion] 
and submit to temporary sacrifices, however great, [even unto bloodshed and civil war, 
progressing ' through that series of revolutionary movements which are too often found 
necessary in most other countries,] to insure their permanent welfare !" [In ivhich 
result, of course, as the facts have "thus far" proved, they would find themselves egre- 
giously mistaken, by the fruition of such lawless measures of loarfare upon all the insti- 
tutions of civilization.] 

Was the President more explicit than this, when he claimed, indirectly and parenthet- 
ically, to be a constituent part of the legislative power 1 That he did so, by such indirec- 
tion, all must agree, was to let it pass / unobserved, and be sanctioned by silence, without 
raising a question upon it; and just so with this treasonable invocation of the spirit of 

BLOODY REVOLUTION ! 

Oh! Van, thou caitiff! Oh! Catiline, thou worse than caitiff! Ah! Amos, dost 
thou "mould and touch" THEM too ? 

R. M. 

WASHiNQTeN Citt, D. O., January (J, 1840. 



* It is hardly necessary to say, that these allusions to the " greatest number," the " democracy of numbers," 
&c, are not by any means meant as a disrespect to the sovereign people in such aggregate capacity, but 
merely 4o expose to their just reproof the reiterated and hypocritical appeals made to them by this fla- 
gitious dynasty, in order v> cajole and flatter them into a support, by their beni«n countenance, of the un- 
hallowed efforts making to subvert the institutions of our country, which have been established by those 
sages and patriotic statesmen who flourished in the better days of the Republic, and whom it has heretofore 
been the delight of the American people, not by distinctions of the " greatest number," the " democracy of 
numbers," or any other such catch denominations, but by whole communities, to honor, revere, and hold in 
grateful remembrance, without invidious party distinctions, for the mere glorification of a factious party 
leader, who, without popularity, is revelling in the popularity of his predecessor, undeservedly transferred to 
his use, and sedulously devising " pop'lar traps" to retain its use against the will op the soveheigk 

PEOPLE HE WOULD NOW BEGUILE EY CVNHINO. 



SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES TO THE THIRD EDITION. 

Note [a.] on page 1 . 

It occurs to me to be proper here to make the following statement, accompanied with 
the letters subjoined, as a strong presumptive evidence, in the absence of positive proof, 
that there was a standing request with Major Donelson to return my communications, ac 
stated in the text, from a very early period down to the close of General Jackson's admin- 
istration. 

Notwithstanding my continued efforts to reclaim all my communications, there still re- 
main to this day unrecovered, the following, which were dated as early as 1829, viz : let- 
ters of recommendation from the late William B. Giles, then Governor of Virginia; from 
the late General Alexander Smyth, then a member of Congress from Virginia; and a re- 
commendation by a great number of the most respectable citizens of Richmond for the situ- 
ation of librarian, conditioned that it were in the contemplation of the President to remove 
the then incumbent, Colonel Watterston ; together with letters from several captains and 
commodores in the navy, on the subject of the consulate at Tripoli — all addressed to the 
President in my behalf and reclaimable by me. 

The letters here subjoined will bear me testimony of these particulars in part. The first 
conveyed the letter of Mr. Giles, above mentioned, as an additional recommendation to 
<hose then in possession of the Secretary of State, and acknowledged by the official en- 
dorsement on it. The second and third show the readiness with which the promise was 
made me by the then Secretary of War and the private Secretary of the President, to give 
such as were in their possession the proper disposal to effect the friendly object. Is it 
probable that in making that effort — and, by the by, without effecting that object in any 
manner whatever — the abovementioncd communications were lost or mislaid, so that they 
were never returned to me, as others of subsequent date were, under a more exact compli- 
ance with the reiterated request, the former having probably been already irrecoverably 
3ost ! The reader will, at any rate, perceive that the failure to lay hands upon them, 
whenever applied for, would naturally give rise to a request and a promise to have them 
"hunted up," which would equally apply to subsequent communications, which, under 
improved vigilance, were from time to time returned, accompanied with the evidences of 
Executive action. The fourth and last subjoined letter also shows how dilatory was the 
President on some other occasions at least, in performing his promises, and that it was 
likewise the practice of others to reclaim their communications. Mr. Parker was also un- 
successful in recovering his for more than twelve months, perhaps from a prevalent remiss- 
ness of ihr private Secretary in. the first instance, to aukange the Executive files. 

Robert Mayo to the Hon.. Martin Van Buren, Secretary of State. 

Richmond, April 16, 1629. 

I bee you will not consider my adding the inclosed to the already (as I suppose) sufficient testimony in 
ray behalf, now on file, as proceeding from any distrust, that whatever may, with fitness and propriety, be 
done for me, will, in its proper season, be effected. It was only apprehended that the want of Mr. Giles's 
;;ood wishes would seem to be a. deficiency, rather than otherwise important. He assures me he would havn 
forwarded inn a letter at the time that Mr. Stevenson and General Scott did, except for extreme illness, 
from which he has but recently had a small respite. 

The other papers are in possession of Mr. Donelson, to whom I beg you will convey this at your conveni- 
ence, to be handed to the President. 

Your very respectful and obedient servant, ROBERT MAYO. 

J. II. Eaton to Robert Mayo. 

Washington, June 5, 18-9. 
Sui: The enclosed private letters, as requested by you, have been read, and are now returned. 
We have nothing new here— nothing but the same dull routine of business that prevailed when you were 
present. 

Should any appearances make it seemingly necessary, your letters shall receive the proper direction, as 
you have desired. 

[ have the honor to be, very respectfully, J. II. EATON. 

Andrew J. Donelson to Robert Mayo. 

June 13, 1829. 
Dear Ssv. : Your note of June 6th, would have been answered earlier but for the pressure of business, 
which deprives me of leisure. You are aware of the appointment of Mr. Meehan to till the place of Wat- 
terston, winch, of course, throws your chances of employment upon some other theatre; and I am sorry 1 1 
say that I know of none to which I can refer you with certainty. Should one be presented, it uill afford mc 
pleasure to place before it t/tc testimonials which you have left in my j ossession. 

************* 
I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant. 

ANDREW J. DONELSON. 

3 



26 

John A. Parker to Robert Mayo. 

TArPAHANNOuK, December 21, 1833 
Ms- Dear Sih: 

************* 

Thp object of this letter in part, is, to ask, at your hands, a small favor. Soon after General Jackson came 
into office, I desired a situation in one of tile Western Slates, I opened a correspondence with Major Lee 
on the subject, and he had an interview with General Jackson, who told him if I was recommended to him 
by some of the members from our Slate, 1 should receive an appointment. As soon as my friends ascertained 
that such a pledge had been made, they procured from Tazewell, Tyler, Stevenson,' Jwdse Parker, and 
others, letters to The President and Secretary of State in my favor. In April or May alter,! wailed on the 
President with my letters ; I remarked when he had read them, that it would be extremely gratilying to me 
to be honored with the confidence of his Administration by receiving an appointment; yet it was not ray 
intention, nor did my situation require, I should press ray application; my claims had been stated by my 
friends, and it was for him to decide whether they were such as to entitle me to receive an appointment. 
His reply was, " Mr. Parker, at a convenient time you shall be provided for." The same language he 
held to Major Lee about fifteen days before he left the United Mates. Since that lime, I have not said 
any thing to the President on the subject, nor have I heard from him; I presume I have been long since for 
gotten. I, however, stand now in the same relation to him I did in 1828, and 1824; I desire his re-election 
sincerely, and what little influence I have, shall be used to promote it. I shall not again ask office, although 
I should be pleased to receive an appointment in Washington or elsewhere. I know, however, I am too 
obscure to be thought of. Now I desire to get possession of the letters spoken of; they were regularly filed 
in the office of his private Secretary, and I request you, as a frienJ, to call and procure them, and send them 
to me; they may, and I think will be, of service to me. 

************* 

In haste, your friend, &c. 

JNO. A. PARKER. 

Were not the above letter entirely honorable to Mr. Parker, in every respect, I should 
probably have waived all the benefits of its use as evidence here. It establishes another 
fact, however, in written form, of greater importance to the public, but which, I believe, 
was before colloquially notorious, that the President very early adopted the policy of pla- 
cing members of both Houses of Congress under obligations for Executive favors to their 
friends. How far such a policy militates against the independence of legislative action, 
I shall not discuss here, but shall advert to it again on another occasion. 



Note [b. ] on page 1 , 

It occurs to me that I have passed over rather lightly two or three disingenuous artifices 
of the foregoing affidavit, which I will avail myself of this occasion to remark upon. 

It has been perceived by the reader that the affiant peremptorily swears [1] that the 
aforesaid letter, (meaning the copy of his letter to Fulton,) ivas purloined from his office. 
It has also been perceived that he admits, that two of the members of his family, A. J. 
Douelson, and Andrew Jackson, jr., had free access to the drawer, where he alleges that 
and other papers were filed. Now, let me ask, if either of those accredited agents had re- 
moved the said copy, (as they clearly might, having access to it,) especially too, if it 
were filed within my original communication respecting the Houston conspiracy, as evi- 
dence of the President's action upon it, and cither designedly or inadTertently conveyed 
to me with my said communication, would that act of his own agent have been an act of 
purloining 1 If not, the affiant could not swear peremptorily that it wan purloined, with- 
out hazarding a fake oath — nor would any man so swear, having conscientious scruples 
about a false oath. 

But it would seem that the affiant made this bold declaration, in order to give some 
plausibility to the guess which he immediately after makes, that "Robert Mayo purloined 
it;" and, probably, with the further design of exciting wonder or distrust, how eke I could 
possibly get possession of if , or from what motive it could have been placed in my hands, 
he adroitly keeps out of view the fact, that it was an action upon my communication to 
him, and was therefore most probably filed with it, at the time it was prepared ; he ne- 
cessarily, then, having that communication before him. He probably saw, that, had be 
made that statement, the inference would have been perfectly natural and spontaneous to 
every man's mind, that in making rendition of my documents generally, this copy came 
along with them, whether inadvertently or not. But having thus kept out of view the 
fact of its connexion with my communication, he then very significantly says, "if it had 
been handed to me by any one, I would have returned it to him." Grant that such 
would probably have been my course, were it an isolated document, instead of being en- 
veloped in my original communication, and further identified with it by the endorsement 
on the general envelope, and handed to me by his accredited messenger. The reader will 
now perceive, that had this general envelope not been preserved, upon which is endorsed, 



27 

hi General Jackson's own hand, an order to write such a letter to Mr. Fulton, of which 
that in question purports to be a copy, I would possibly have been at some difficulty to 
show its connexion and identity with my own package, and that this device might have 
been successful in exciting a general distrust for what motive it could have been placed in 
my hands as an isolated document, or how else I could have become possessed of it, ex- 
cept by purloining it. Who will now believe that this mode of constructing the affidavit 
was not a disingenuous artilice, with a view to involve me in such embarrassing inferences, 
when it is also taken into account, how repeatedly the affiant afterwards speaks of this 
copy being " found" in my possession, and of my "acknowledging'' that I showed it to ex- 
President Adams; neither of which allegations is true, (as I have before stated,) in the 
malicious sense obviously intended to be conveyed. 

With regard, to the question whether it was handed to me with my original communica- 
tion, as showing the Executive action thereon, or through sheer inadvertence, this inqui- 
ry was entirely superseded and set aside, in my estimation, by other paramount considera- 
tions connected with it; for, when I bore in mind that there existed other strong evidences 
o/" collusion betwetn the President and an association of pirates again at a friend- 
It/ neighbor, 1 felt it incompatible with my rights as a citizen, and my duty to the public, to 
take any other course in the premises, than that of public exposure. Moreover, my con- 
scientious belief was, that if I had contributed in any manner to suppress this evidence, I 
should have become accessory after the fact, in the conspiracy, and the Executive collu- 
sion therein. 

In confirmation of the above reflections on the disingenuous artifice resorted to, in con- 
structing this nefarious affidavit, I may here add, that since the first edition of this 
refutation, it has been credibly stated and reiterated to me, that when General Jackson 
heard of my having possession of the copy of his letter to Fulton, he in the unsophisticated 
frankness of the first impression, slapped his thighs and exclaimed, that " it must have been 
sent to Mayo with his own documents!" but we all too well know that the "second thoughts" 
of Andrew Jackson are wont to be ??iost malign, and deadly directed ! 

I will add that, since issuing the first edition of this refutation, I have hardly met with 
a single gentleman, who has mentioned the subject, who has not freely declared "he 
would not believe General Jackson upon oath when his passions are roused," or words equiv- 
alent. Many of his angry altercations and persjnal contentions with old friends and asso- 
ciates, among which may be included his controversy with Mr. Calhoun, testify to this 
foible. His pledges of reform, unredeemed but by converting the alleged augean stables 
into a great cow r -house, or worse filthy pig-sties, amply attest the same; as do his broken 
promises but too freely given, of rewards for political and party services, afford a fruitful 
chapter of the like character: while his persecutions of meritorious officers, because politi- 
cally opposed to him, and his patronage of others (however opposed, incompetent, neg- 
lectful, worthless, or practised in defalcations, if they but have influential friends to say 
■"better let them be") according to the dictates of political gambling — "which assumes as 
many shapes as Proteus, continually wears the mask of dissimulation, and lives a perpet- 
ual lie" — are no less prolific of illustrative instances. And were I to resort to his diplo- 
macy, it would be almost as endless to recite the cases in point. I shall only advert to a 
few of them. He practised a gross deception upon Congress in his sixth annual message, 
in which be made complaints against the French Government for not ordering an appro- 
priation at the session of the Chambers, before its adjournment in April, 1832, to pay the 
first instalment of the 25,000,000 indemnity, which would only fall due in February, 
IS33, nearly twelve months afterwards. In these premature complaints may be found, 
no doubt, the sulhn motives of subsequent procrastination by that sensitive nation. In 
prosecuting this angry altercation, thus wantonly and disingenously raised with the French 
Government, he who never avoids responsibility, but the boasted champion of all respon- 
sibility, imcandidiy ensconced himself behind his party leaders in Congress, by permitting 
io dtrxihe on them the responsibility of making a proposition to appropriate three mil- 
lions of dollars to prepare for a French war — he having, in a message shortly before, ur- 
ged upon Congress to pass a law authorizing reprisals upon French property, at the 
same time declaring it to be his belief that it would be regarded by that nation as an ami- 
-cable measure-, whereas, it requires not even a horn-book politician to know that either 
■and both of those propositions, being adopted, would have been viewed by France as hos- 
tile measures, and would have immediately involved us in an unwarrantable, uncalled for, 
and premature war. Reviewing, also, his disingenuousness towards Mexico, in connexion 
with the similar movements of great numbers of our citizens on the Canada frontier, under 
the expectation of the countenance or connivance of tire Executive, as in the caee of the 






2S 

piratical expedition against the former, there can be no shadow of doubt that we should a? 
this moment be involved in an unjust and disastrous war with England, were General 
Jackson yet President of the United States. At seeing his ancient enemy resent this in- 
sidious invasion of her dominions, he would have bristled up like a hedge-hog, and the 
whole country would have been brought into the scrape, from, the necessity of the case y 
rather than seem to quail at the conflict, however unjust, unprovoked, piratical, and wanton 
in its origin ! 



Note [c] on page 11. 

If the reader will peruse the following extracts, (from the correspondence between the 
Secretary of State and the British Minister, as it appears in the House document No. 181, 
3d session, 25th Congress,) in connexion with my foregoing fetter, marked A, to Genera} 
Jackson, in 1830, he will perceive that in the similar case of the interference of citizens ol 
the United States in the affairs of Canada, the present incumbent of the Executive office, 
communicated with the British Minister on the slight grounds of Riraoit only, while his 
predecessor enveloped the most circumstantial testimony of the movements then contem- 
plated against Mexico, -through a succession of years, in impenetrable secrecy. He will 
also perceive in the description of the British Minister's subsequent communication, a; 
most striking counterpart of my said statement of the movements so contemplated by 
Houston and his associates against Mexico, from which it is obvious that those describe-,! 
by Mr. Fox, as having been organized against Canada, were modelled. With these con- 
nected operations in his view, I feel confident that whoever did not perceive the public in- 
terest in my exposition of the President's collusion with Houston, at first sight, will ap- 
preciate its importance in the end. 

Mr. Forsyth to Mr. Fox.— An extract. 

Department of State. 

Washington, February 8, J838. 
Sir: I have tf?e honor to Cicknowlledge the receipt of your note of yesterday's date, acquainting me thai 
you have received advice from Lieutenant General Sir John Colborne, &c. * * * * 

I hast' n to make known to you that no official intelligence has reached this Department of the circum- 
stances stated in your note. The President has, however, directed me to inform you that Genera; 
Scott's attention had been called to the rumor of movements near Plattsbfirg which had reached the State 
Department, and that orlers will now be extended to that officer to repair to that part of the frontier in per- 
non. As General Wool rms been in Vermont, in the neighborhood of Plattsburg and Champlain. the Presi- 
dent does not doubt that he has interfered to prevent any violation of the law, if any were intended, b; cki 
zens of the United States, or other persons within our jurisdiction. 
I pray yon to accept the renewed assurance of my distinguished consklesation. 

JOHN FORSYTH 
Henry S. Fox, Esq., &c. 

Mr. Fox to the Actrng Secretary of State.— An- extract 

Washington. Xorcmbcr 3, ISofi. 

Sir The alarming reports which had reached the United States Government respecting apprehended 
hostile movements against Canada from within the American territory, and which wire communicated fe- 
me, by the friendly orders of the President, have been amply confirmed by intelligence conveyed to her 
Majesty's colonial authorities through various other channels ; and I am sorry to add that the mischief ap 
pears to be far more serious and extensive, and the danger of hostile disturbance more imminent, than hac 
tieen represented in thp information received at Washington. 

It is now ascertained, beyond the possibility of doubt, that a secret combination or conspiracy of vast ex- 
tent, and possessed of large resources in money and warlike provisions, has been formed, and is at this mo 
rnent in active progress within the confines and jurisdiction of the United States, for the purpose of waging 
war upon her Majesty's provinces of Upper and Lower Canada. The combination extends along the whole 
fine of the Canadian frontier, from Maine and Vermont to the State of Michigan ; it extends also far into the 
interior if the Slates of New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio; nod likewise into the neighboring State of 
Kentucky. It is affirmed, and believed, that 40,000 American citizens are already enrolled in this criminal 
association. The. above is the lowest estimate. The depositions of some of the informants carry the number 
to a much greater extent. To these are joined a few vagrant Canadian refugees. The number of the American 
conspirators is daily and hourly increasing. The plot is carried on by means of masonic lodges, secretly es- 
tablished in almost every town alone the frontier; the members whereof Communicate with each other hv 
private sums, and rare divided into several grades of initiation. A complete system of these secret signs, as 
well as the cipher or secret, alphabet, by means of which the associates correspond in writing, fs in the 
hands of her Majesty's authorites. The regular organization has been completed, of a pretended "provisional 
government for Upper Canada, with assumed official rank and commissions, both civil and military. The 
names, description, and residences of the chief members of this pretended government, who are American' 
citizens, are also in possession of the British authorities- A pretended national bank of Upper Canada has 
also been organized, to be established and maintained by the seizure and' plunder of the public property. The 
superior lodges of the association are beli ved to be situated in the towns of Rochester, Buffalo, and Detroit : 
a grand central lodge, or convention of delegates, is hei'd at Cleveland : anothe? considerable lodge is silua- 
led at Cincinnalti Arms and warlike stores are secreted at various points; and the conspirators also reckon 
that, with their present force and number, and complete organization, they will have no difficulty in again 
forcing and plundering the United States and State arsenals, whenever tlve time for showing themselves in 
arms shall have arrived. 



29 

No less than nine steamboats, of those that ply regularly on lake Erie, the names of which are known to 
the British authorities, have been engaged for the service of the conspirators. I am afraid there is no doubt 
that a number of magistrates, justices of the peace, and State officers of the States above mentioned, are en- 
gaeed in the same flagitious enterprise. . , , TT j t r, , , 

The direct objects of this vast combination are to invade and conquer Upper and Lower Canada, to sub- 
vert and revolutionize the established Government of those provinces, and to wrest them from the rightful 
dominion of the British Crown. These are designs of the chief directors of the plot; but it is probable that 
a large majority of their followers have enlisted in the scheme for the sole purpose of rapine and plunder. 
The particular mode and time of operation do not appear to have been yet determined upon by the conspi- 
rators, but will be made to depend upon circumstances, and the accidental course of events. 

The above particulars, a large proportion of which is already known to the United States Government, are 
derived from private information, received through various channels, by her Majesty's authorities in Cana- 
da The evidence which has been submitted to her Majesty's authorities, and also to myself, is of such a 
nature that we can entertain no doubt whatever of its truth. There may possibly be error or exaggeration in 
some of the details, which must usually happen when secret combinations are to be delected and dealt with ; 
tout the general truth of the information admits of no doubt whatever. * *,,*,, * 

i have the honor to be, sir, with high esteem and consideration, your most obedient and himible^servant, 

Aaron Vail, Esq., 

Acting Secretary of State of the TTnitcd States. 



Note [d.] on page 15. 

I. Mr. Hunter and myself were strangers here, and could not have been expected to make 
out such a statement, (see the text,) except by the assistance of others, whose long resi- 
dence and familiarity with the inmates of the Departments, would enable them to con- 
tribute the information desired. And though no one, at the present day, beyond the pale 
of the Jackson and Van Buren ranks, can look at it in any other light than as a most 
ungrateful commission to participate in, yet it may safely be alleged, that there are but 
few men who advocated the election of General Jackson, at that day, under the clamor 
that had been raised by his friends, both in and out of Congress, in relation to official 
abuses and the reform that was desirable in the public Departments at Washington, who 
would not have cheerfully contributed their aid to any preliminary steps which he and 
his prominent friends here, whether of his cabinet proper, his clandestine cabinet, or 
other confidential associates, might propose us necessary means to accomplish his pledges, 
or any modifications thereof; he, in whose official personage is embodied the executive 
unity, being justly deemed responsible to the public for the uses he should male of the 
information sought. I need not say that the almost unbounded confidence reposed in the 
integrity of his purposes, by which he was placed in the presidential chair, involved many 
more than my humble self, in contributing the information and other means desired, for 
executing the policy of his administration, (and in many respects others have gone beyond 
us, in volunteering'the same, without request,) and without contemplating the most distant 
possibility of being held accountable to public odium for contributing those facilities— as the 
authorities who framed, adjudged, and executed the uuis, were supposed rightly to 
assume, and justly to bear all the responsibility of that policy. 

I can give the strongest presumptive evidence that General Jackson did once concur in 
this sentiment, as expressed to him by myself in a letter of remonstrance, dated October 
3, 1836, against mv dismissal by heads of bureaus (his own appointees) implicated in those 
statements of official delinquencies; and that he then tacitly recognised the truth of my 
complaint, that a hearing in the matters represented, had been denied me, though he has 
found it convenient to other views since, to say they had been fully investigated; for, in 
ten days after the date of that letter, he referred me to Cary A. Harris, the then acting 
Secretary of War, for a highly responsible appointment in the War Department, without 
making any exception to that letter. Here is the extract : 

Washington, October 3. 1836. 

" His Excellency Andrew Jackson, President of the United States : 

" I am at a loss in what terms to commence to address your Excellency, to give you any tolerable idea of 
my situation in the briefest manner possible. I fear, indeed, the old but expressive adage will be fully 
applicable to me, first and last, ' that I hare brought my figs toapoor market." 

"Be that as it may, it is nevertheless true, that I have been engaged about twelve years, by writing and 
otherwise, in advocating the cause of Jacksonian democracy. * * * . 

" Whatever part I may have peiformed as a witness [in the latter part oj this period] in stating acts m 
pursuance of the wishes of my superiors of the ■political fold, placed by the people at the helm of the Gov- 
ernment for the declared object of reform, I do not see with what self-justification, even the rames impli- 
cated by such testimony can'lay violent hands on the witness, whether the facts bring them within the rule 
of reform or not. The framers of the rule, the authorities that adjudge and execute it, but not the wit- 
nesses, are accountable for its correctness and proper application. The punishment of a witness, and that 
too, by the party indicted, without a hearing, is equally unknown in the annals either of jurisprudence, 
or of Lynch-mob-equity .'" * * * p ivrAvn 

(Signed,) K -VIA\0. 



30 

Here is an explicit denial to the President, that a hearing had been granted me in rela- 
tion to representations that I had contributed to, in compliance with his wishes ; an utter 
repudiation of responsibility for those proceedings, except for the truth of the facts stated ; 
and a just complaint, that the witnesses should incur any odium or punishment for com- 
plying with their high commission in these matters, without a hearing. And I again re- 
peat, that my appointment in the War Department, ten days after the date of that letter, 
without objection or qualification to its statements, is a full justification of me, in all those 
matters. From that time there was never a breath of dissatistaction uttered, until the clamor 
was raised in the spring or summer of 1838, to produce a diversion from the exposure I 
had made of General Jackson's collusion in Houston's conspiracy, by suggesting a false 
presumption that I had become surreptitiously possessed of the copy of his letter to Ful- 
ton. I now subjoin the evidence of the Secretary's precipitate action to dismiss me from 
that office on the false presumption alluded to; and the further evidence that this assumed 
ground of dismissal was abandoned, and the allegation cancelled on the same day it was 
mad?. But the dismissal being permitted to go into effect nevertheless, is more of a re- 
proach to the injustice of the Secretary, than to myself, in any sense— for I told him at 
the interview, when he made the cancel, that 1 had no favor to ask, and nothing to depre- 
cate, from him, but demanded that my character should not be stigmatized by him. Now, 
I ask, would he have abandoned the ground of dismissal, had he any evidence better than 
General Jackson's or any other man's malignant guess to sustain it 1 Did not this act, 
impugning that surmise,' sufficiently avow and declare the egregious wrong done me by 
assuming it as a ground of dismissal! When the ground was abandoned as soon as 
taken, should he not also have cancelled the action to dismiss 1 I am free to say, that it 
was a dishonorable attempt of the Secretary, (to consign me to infamy,) as the cats-paw of 
the irresponsible ex-dignitary ensconced behind the curtain, whose umbrage conceived 
against me was attempted to be cloaked under this false charge, and though that could not 
be sustained, the personal umbrage could not be appeased without dismissal, right or wrong. 
But now that he has come out in the open field, I will be responsible that I will have a fair 
hit at him, and his cats-paws in the bargain. Here are copies of the Secretary's two notes 
to the head of the bureau in which I had been sole cleik for nearly two years. 

Department op War, July 30, 1833. 
Sir : Havin" understood thai Mr. Robert Mayo, a Clerk in your office, has communicated to Mr. Ad ams, 
a copy of a letter from General Jackson to Governor Fulton, which he must have obtained acci- 
dentally, I desire that you forthwith discharge him from the service of the Government. 

Very respectfully, vour most obedient servant, 

' ' J. R. POINSETT. 

Major Levi Whiting, Clothing Bureau. 

A true copy, L. Whiting, Major U. S. Army. 

July SI. 
Sir : Dr. Mayo having called upon me and explained the manner in which he became possessed of the 
letter communicated by him to Mr. Adams, I bee; you will obliterate the words surreptitiously or— in my 
letter directing you to discharge that gentleman from the service of the Government. 

Your obedient servant, J- !>•• r01JNnt.il. 

Major Whiting. 

A true copy, L. Whiting, Major U. S. Army. 

II. But to go hack and resume the narrative, where I stopped to quote the presumptive evi- 
dence of the President's concurrence in the position I had laid down, of innocent compliance, 
&c, I say, that under this conviction of the innocence of contributing information, I also 
took an active part in collecting the materials for another list, with the memorial, which were 
presented to the President in May 1833 : and this procedure was also taken under the advise- 
ment and supervision of Amos Kendall. But, although his authority, from the well-known 
confidential relations between him and the President, might have been considered complete, 
yet I took the precaution to ascertain the inclinations and wishes of the President on the 
subject; and in the course of repeated interviews and consultations, settled the principal 
heads, with his approbation, under which the statements might be arranged and character- 
ized. The suggestion of a memorial to be signed by twenty or thirty citizens, and to 
be accompanied with written statements by witnesses of the matters proposed for investi- 
gation, was made by Kendall, and submitted by me to General Jackson, which met his 
entire approbation, so far as his professio?is, and continued countenance of the matter 
while progressing, could be relied on; and as positive evidence of this, upon one of those 
. consultations, he went far beyond anything embraced in the prayer of the memorial, (which 
only asked for investigation,) by declaring, in the presence of F. P. Blair and T. B. Keily, 



31 

j 

that "he would turn them out faster than he had ever done yet." Mr. Blair had entered 
the room but a minute or two before, while Mr. Reily and myself were with the President, 
the latter exhibiting to the President some of the materials that were in preparation, par- 
ticularly a copy of a letter of a Mr. Anderson, then, and now, a clerk in the First Comp- 
troller's Office, to the Editors of the New York Courier and Enquirer. 

It had been determined, upon consultation and advisement of Kendall, that these ma- 
terials should be collected by a committee who should hold their meetings at my residence. 
I gave the invitations to each person composing that committee, after first consulting and 
obtaining the approval of Kendall on the nomination of each one. Among others, John 
H. Sherborne, now a clerk in the Land Office, was nominated to Kendall, but was de- 
cidedly disapproved by him, as he alleged, for want of credibility. Also James Owner, 
now a clerk in the Post Office Department, was at first disapproved by Kendall, as he 
stated, because he was then an applicant for office, and his statements might affect his 
claims for appointment; but he was afterwards admitted to membership, waiving this 
objection, on account of the extent of his information. It had been contemplated to 
nominate James B. Thornton, Second Comptroller, on the committee, but having strong 
charges against him for gambling and intemperance, I declined it. The following is a 
list of the persons who met at my residence, some of them once, twice, and thrice, others 
more frequently, till the document was completed from the statements furnished : 

Amos Kf.xdall, then Fourth Auditor, now Post-Master General ! !! 

Elijah Hayward, then Commissioner of the General Land Office. 

Johx N. Moulder, late Chief Clerk in Second Comptroller's office. 

Thomas B. Reilt, then in 1st Comptroller's Office, now clerk in P. 0. Department. 

J. A. M. Duncanson, then, and now, clerk in the Post Office Department. 

A. W. Goodrich, then a clerk in the Post Office Department. 

James Owxeb, then an applicant, now a clerk in the Post Office Department. 

Robert Mato, then a clerk in the Pension Office, formerly in the P. 0. Department. 

HansoxGassaway, [then a principal witness in an investigation of the Navy Commis- 
sioners' Office, ordered by the President, and conducted during a space of nine 
months, by Amos Kendall and Gen. John P. Van Ness, as commissioners appointed 
for that purpose, with a clerk (a Mr. Jordan) at the rate of $1,500 a year, and the 
compensation of the Commissioners probably double that amount each — their report, 
withal, resulting in smoke — but more of this hereafter.] 

Several other persons were invited to be of the committee, but declined to take part. 
While these documents were in preparation, at one of the last interviews with General 
Jackson on the subject, he manifested his impatience at their delay, by urging their com- 
pletion, "else they would be too late," saying, that "three months, four months, six 
months had elapsed, and they were not yet ready." My reply was, that "they were 
just about being completed." A few days after (when twenty or thirty citizens, three or 
four at my instance, had signed the memorial prefixed to the list, for which latter they were 
in no manner responsible, except in asking for an investigation of it,) Thomas B. Reily, 
A. W. Goodrich, and myself, waited on Judge Hayward (Kendall being absent from the 
city) with the memorial and sequel, which he read through, from beginning to end, and then 
recommended it lo be handed to the President, which was done by myself the same day, 
proceeding direct from Hayward's office. About that time, I had mentioned to the Presi- 
dent that°I had prepared "an article for the Globe, to call the public attention to the pro- 
posed investigation ; but he recommended that it should be sent to the Richmond En- 
quirer, which was accordingly done under. the frank of Judge Hayward, to the address of 
Peter V. Daniel, Esq., with a request to hand it to Mr. Ritchie, who published it, as well 
as I recollect, in the Enquirer of the 10th May, 1833. 

Upon the perusal of the documents by General Jackson before his cabinet, it was found 
that he had caught a Tartar ; and the great difficulty, at first, was, how to dispose of it — for 
the graver offences noted were chiefly of the paternity of his own appointees, while the 
minor ones, consisting chiefly in differences of opinion, were charged to his political op- 
ponents. Here, then, was the trying conjuncture ; and the great desideratum was, to get 
out of the scrape themselves as adroitly as possible, by making scape goats of those whose 
aid had been enlisted in the matter; accordingly, it wppears from the record of the Rich- 
mond Enquirer, that the first step was to give the cue to the editor of that paper, and ap- 
pease his ravings, or divert them to a false direction, after the example of the felon who 
cries "stop thief!" This is manifest, from a letter from Washington, dated 26th May, 
1833, imputed by Mr. Ritchie to the authority of the President, as he clearly intimates, in 



prefacing an extract from it, published in his paper of the 3 1st same month, characteris- 
ing it as an assurance of what disposition he would make of those paper?, viz : 

Extrartfrom the Richmond Enquirer of the 3lst May, 1833. 
" A few words as to those persons who have been concerned in getting up these papers ! to those patriotic- 
volunteers who have undertaken to instruct the President and his Cabinet about the qualifications of his of- 
ficers ; to that ' Central Committee' who have dared to revise the machinery of the administration and to reg- 
ulate its movements ; to those d d good friends of Andrew Jackson, who are doing him more injury by their 

indiscretion, than ever they will be able to correct by all their fidelity and all their zeal. And first, let us re- 
mark, this is not the first time we have scouted at this impertinent interference with the administration of the 
Government. Some eighteen or twenty-four months since we received an anonymous printed hand-bill 
from the city, got up/or a similar purpose tvith this more modem memorial. It was accompanied with a 
'written memorandum on the margin, inviting our attention to its contents, and asking our support. v\ e 
noticed it at the time. We denounced the proceeding in this paper ; and since that time we have not heard 
of the matter. But, as it now dares to show itself under something of a new face, we must repeat the indigna- 
tion we feel for the whole transaction ; and may we not add our hope, that the President of the United States 
will mark it as it deserves 1 We know the ire we are kindling by this plain speaking, in the bosom of the 
parties concerned, but we do not dread their resentment, nor do we deprecate its consequences. We speak 
what we believe to be the truth. We dislike this wholesale proscription. If any officer at Washington be 
incapable, dishonest, or unfaithful, why, let him be discharged. And we have no fear that Andrew Jack- 
son will ever be wanting in the energy which such an arduous responsibility requires. But that he will 
piew this proceeding in the light in which it deserves, ice have some assurance in the following letter : 
"■Extract of a letter from Washington, dated May 26. 
" There is nothing new here but what the newspapers will inform you of. Last week a curious farce was 
got up by some persons in office! They got up a petition, praying the President to discharge from public em- 
ploy, all immoral, drunken, and incapable incumbents; and went round with this paper, and obtained the 
signatures of a number of citizens of Washington, who thousht there was no harm in signing it, (.neither was 
there)— no particular names being designated for removal. When the conspirators cot as many names as they 
wanted to the petition, they appended to it a paper (without a knowledge of most of those who signed the pe- 
tition) purporting to be a list of those deemed immoral, drunken, and incapable. This list contained about 
loO, many of them the most respectable, useful, and efficient officers employed by the Government. V\ heii 
the'President read the paper he was very indignant, and sent for those very officious office holders who head- 
ed the petition, and told them that they must make out specific charges against the ///oscribed individuals: 
and, if they failed to do so, and prove them against those on the proscribed list, that they themselves must 
lose their places.'" 

The fust remarkable fact displayed in the above extracts, to which I shall ask the atten- 
tion of the reader in order to show the prevalence of the agitation of proscription at Wash- 
ington, during the first term of General Jackson's administration, is, the "printed hand- 
bill" that was sent to Mr. Ritchie in 1830 or '31, asking his co-operation in the proscrip- 
tion proposed — it being one of those schemes of which I had no knowledge or participation 
whatever. Though this fact tells a great deal, I will pass it without comment, and take 
up that flagitious description made by Mr. Ritchie's correspondent, giving him " assurance" 
that the President " will view this (' more modern') proceeding in the light in which it de- 
serves" — falsely and maliciously describing it as "a petition praying the President to dis- 
charge from public employ (150 persons alleged to be) immoral, drunken, and incapable 
incumbents," "many of them the most respectable, useful, and efficient officers employed 
ui the Government." Now, the reader has perceived that the prayer of the memorial or 
petilion was not to dismiss any one, much less 150 persons, but that it "prays the Pres- 
ident will grant such relief in the premises as to his excellency may seem fit and proper," 
&c. &c. He also falsely declares that "the President sent for these very officious office 
holders, and told them that they must make out specific charges against the proscribed in- 
dividuals ; and if they failed to do so, and prove them, that they themselves must lose their 
places." The persons alluded to were not officious in this matter, unless the first of the 
committee above named, Amos Kendall, was so; for they acted by virtual commission, 
under invitation, in the first instance, by Kendall, and the continual recognition of the 
President, of Kendall, and of Judge Hay ward. They were never sent for by the President, 
to my knowledge, nor required by him'to make specific charges ; for specific charges were 
made, but not to the executive taste, as they were in most instances against his own ap- 
pointees, some of which were afterwards proved to be true by investigating committees of 
Congress on the Post Office Department; and I have no doubt other delinquencies would 
have been detected had the investigation been granted, which would have prevented many 
of the overgrown enormities that were afterwards brought to light, when too late, by other 
committees of Congress : these very officious office holders, therefore, acting under the 
commission of the President, did not fail to prove those specific charges, for they were de- 
nied, on the "second sober thoughts" of the President, the opportunity to prove them, 
nor did they receive a threat from the President to lose their places ; on the contrary, the 
favorites of Kendall were protected from the wrath of the parties implicated, and several of 
them better provided for than before, excepting Goodrich and myself, who, having lost cast 
with Kendall, (that artful generator of factions and intrigue,) though not officially connect- 
ed with him, were turned out, after a long struggle, for want of hi" clandestine influence 



and intercession, but were again, with bad grace, shabbily provided for by the reluctant 
and tardy relenting of the President. 

Whether the letter to Mr. Ritchie, from which the above extract is taken, was written 
by the President, by his private Secretary, or by Amos Kendall, or any other palace slave, 
Mr. Ritchie has quoted it as an authentic "assurance," and therefore I have a right to treat 
it as such. But, two days after that hopeful missive was despatched from Washington, 
Kendall himself left for Baltimore, on his financial intrigue against the United States Bank, 
and on his arrival there sent me the following — one beauty of which fixes upon him that 
very co-operation he so meanly and dastardly endeavors to get rid of. It also displays a 
singular affinity to the above, in the triple epithet " immoral, negligent, and incompetent" 
but the best of these indirect avowals is, " that there were (in his opinion) many holding 
office at Washington who ought to be removed," and that I "defeated that reform (pro- 
scription) which (he considered) was necessary and practicable." Here is his precious con- 
fession, volunteered as his best mode of escape : 

" Baltimore, May 28, IS33. 

" Dear Sir : I have had a conversation with Mr. Hinckley, a clerk in the Post Office Department, who 
came down in the stage with me, ol" which it is proper that I should apprize you. He stated that certain 
charges had been made against him, as well as others, and that he had been several times informed at Wash- 
ington, that the whole proceeding had originated with me. I replied to him that I knew nothing of the 
charges against him, and that 1 had had no agency in originating the proceeding, other than to express my 
upinion ichen it was sought; that my opinion was that there were many holding office at Washington who 
ought to be removed; but that 1 had advised against making charges implicating even them, unless the evi- 
dences of their character and conduct were first collected in written statements, signed by the witnesses ; and 
that the course pursued, if it had been correctly stated to me, was not only unadvised by me, but contrary to 
inv advice. 

'" I have thought proper to give you the substance of this conversation correctly, because I know not what 
form it may assume in our gossiping city, before it reaches your ears, as it no doubt will. 

" I do regret most sincerely that you moved at all in this business, without the proofs in hand, and that you 
have embraced many individuals 'against whom I am sure that nothing can be sustained. Its effect is to 
throw all their influence and that of their friends into the scale against you, and thus defeat that reform 
which was necessary and practicable. As the matter stands, I think you will soon be convinced that it 
would have been better not to have moved at all, as I advised you, unless you could come forward with th» 
written statements of .some twenty or thirty persons, confirming the charges. However, / certainly do not 
mean to interfere for your injury. At the same time that I must steadily disclaim having aided in or ad- 
vised the course pursued, I shall just us steadily maintain that all immoral, negligent, and incompetent 
■persons, as well as those who are openly abusive of the President and administration ought to be remov- 
ed ; and that you, having taken the responsibility of making charges, ought to have a fair hearing. 1 shall 
i detained here some days, possibly two weeks. 

"With liieh respect, your obedient servant, 

"AMOS KENDALL. 

" Dr. R. Mayo, Washington, D. C." 

Now let the reader take note of the facts, that the letter to Mr. Ritchie bears date the 
26th May, that of Mr. Kendall to me the 28th May, that of the President to Mr. DeKrafl't 
the 29th May, and that all are of the same purport nearly, or at least have very strong fami- 
ly likenesses, declaring that the President was requested to remove some 150 of the best of- 
ficers of the Government, when no such request was made ; and denying that any specific 
charges were made, when in fact there were specific charges in many instances against his 
own appointees as well as against a few others. It is manifest that there was a general con- 
sultation and consent in the latter part of May, 1833, to make their escape from the unpleas- 
ant predicament they had brought themselves into by their carte blanche commission on the 
ubject of reform, by alleging a false excuse, and promulgating a false description of the 
memorial and sequel. Furthermore, as Mr. Kendall has gone so far as to commit himself 
(along with other things) upon these two points, viz: that there "were many persons 
holding office at Washington who ought to be removed," and that I have "defeated that 
reform which was necessary and proper, by embracing many individuals against whom he 
is sure nothing can be sustained ;" and as his continual intercourse with his confidential 
friend, Thomas B. Reily, Esq., (in whose family he and his family lived about that time, 
and to whom he promised a better office than the one he had, at the first meeting of the 
committee at my house, should any disaster befall him in consequence of those proceedings,) 
must have enabled him to compare notes with Mr. Reily on the list of those whom he 
(Kendall) deemed necessary and proper to be removed — the impartial reader will perceive 
that I am perfectly justifiable in supposing that the several lists furnished by Mr. Reily du- 
ring those meetings, ought to contain the full exposition of Kendall's views in this regard. 
I shall therefore subjoin one of those lists, the most comprehensive as to numbers — there 
being three of them furnished by Mr. Reily, in his own hand and signature, dated in April, 
1833, besides those of other personal friends of Mr. Kendall, one addressed to him, and 
others frequently making reference to him as a witness. I may, then, ask Mr. Kendall 
if the following list embraces the many persons who, in his opinion, ought to have been re- 
moved, anil whose removal I had defeated by including many of General Jackson's own ap- 



s 



34 

pointmental — for scarcely a reference is made to me as a witness in the case of any others. 
But for a full exposition of this whole affair, turned into a farce by the Executive dismay 
at perceiving that they had cought a tartar, a more ample theatre will be necessary. 

[This is one of the lists furnished by Thomas B. Reily, to be incorporated in the se- 
quel to the memorial of sundry citizens of Washington, addressed to the President in 
May, 1833, asking for "such relief in the premises as to his Excelllency may seem fit 
and proper," viz:] 

Office of Secretary of the Treasury.— Samuel M. McKean, Thomas Dungan, Robert Newell, John McGin- 
nis, Gilbert Rodman.— Violent and abusive. The two last proteges of Samuel D. Ingham ; the last a vocif- 
erous nullifier. Refer to Jas. L. Anthony, Geo. Jonhson, Samuel Handy, and Th. B. Reily. 

First Comptroller's Office.— Win Williamson, James Larned, Benj. Harrison, William Anderson.— Deci- 
ded opponents ; have been abusive; the second dishonorable in his dealings. Refer to S P.Webster. The 
last an abusive correspondent of James Watson Webb. Refer to S. Handy, Lund Washington, Geo. John- 
son, and Th. B. Reily. 

Second Comptroller's office.— Enoch Reynolds, Jona. Seaver, Jas. M. Cutts, John Sessford.— Enemies— all; 
prticularly the last, who pronounces this the most corrupt administration of all. Refer to J. N. Moulder, 
Jno. Davis, Jno. M. Brodhead. 

First Auditor's Office.— Wm. Parker, Wm. Morton, Jno. Coyle, Jno. Underwood, Jn. G. Slye, Thomas Bar- 
clay. — Enemies ; some of them superannuated ; all been in office over sixteen years. Refer to Jere. W. Bro- 
naugh, Geo. Johnson. 

Second Auditor's office.— Jas. Eakin, John Peters, Samuel Lewis, R. M. Boyer, Wm. Mechlin.— Enemies. 
Reference, John Wells, jr. 

Third Auditor's Office.— Several enemies in this office. Refer to Jno. N. Moulder and John Wells, jr for 
their names. 

Fourth Auditor's Office.— Thomas H. Gilliss, Robert Getty, Henry Forrest, Geo. Gilliss, Rob. McGill, H. 
C. Williams.— Reference, Mr. Kendall. 

Fifth Auditor's Office.— S. PI easonton, Thomas Must in, J. D. King, D. Easton, Wm. Dewees.— Enemies; 
and the two last useless ; incompetent. References, John H. Houston, James Gooch, E. J. Hume. 

Solicitor's Office.— Virgil Maxcy, a Calhounman and nullifier. Refer tj S. P. Webster and Dr. Mayo. 

Treasurer's Office.— Peter G. Washington, (an old offender, burnt Gen. Jackson's picture in 1827, belonging 

to a lady, said the n y was the proper place for it, &c.,) G. W. Dashiell, Samuel Forrest, Andrew 

Smith, James Moore. Reference, as to their opposition, to Col. Butler, S. P. Webster, Jno. N. Moulder, and 
Th. B. Reiley. 

Register's Office.— Michael Nourse. James McClery, John D. Barclay, (bitter,) James Lawrie, Wm. B. 
Randolph, (promoted bv register,) Lewis Salomon, (foreigner,) Wm. James, B. F. Rittenhouse, Jno. B. Blake, 
(nullifier,) James D. Woodside, P. W. Gallaudet, Alex. McDonald.— All enemies. Reference, Rev. Mr. 
Evans, Jno. N. Moulder, Ch. H. W. Wharton, (as to Blake,) George Johnson, Th. B. Reily. 

General Land Office. — Jno. M. Moore, S. D. King, Fred. Keller, George Wood, Wm. Simmons, S. Gresham, 
J. K. M. Bryant, Wm. Otis, (usurer,) Wm. S. Smith, Jos. S. Collins, Jno. Wilsjn — Enemies. Reference 
Sacket Reynolds, Randall, Jno. N. Moulder, Th B. Reily, in short, to the Commissioner himself, also E. De 
Kraffi. 

War Department.— L. L. Van Kleeck, Jas. L. Edwards, Samuel J. Potts —Refer to Dr. Mayo, Benjamin L. 
Beall, Maj. Glynn, Mr. Kendall, (as to V. K.) 

Ordnance Office.— William Riddell, Reuben Burdine, (nullifier.)— Refer to Jno. N. Moulder, Edw. De 
Kraffi, H. Gassawny. 

(Endorsed,) " T. B. R." 

[April— 1S33.] 

But Kendall says he did not originate these proceedings! Suppose he did not, in the 
occult sense he may mean, for his lexicography can give equivocal meanings to every term 
in the English language; and, by the same rule, suppose the President himself did not 
originate them ; suppose they originated, in their view, with the first spoils movement of 
his friends in the Senate, on a nomination to fill a vacancy on the bench of the Supreme 
Court, three months before his inauguration, as will presently appear — does it follow that he 
or Kendall are the less responsible for having entertained them, for having given them their 
countenance and support, till it was found that they had two edges, the sharpest of which 
cut their own party adherents the most severely 7 By the same rule might not the present 
Executive disclaim all responsibility for the Sub-Treasury monster, because it was the false 
conception of Gen. Gordon's brain, and had been wrapped in swaddling cloths, to give it 
shape, by accoucheur Gouge, a clerk in the Treasury Department, to recommend it for their 
adoption ? Away with such cowardly evasions ! Should that prove to be an abortion, 
will the Jacobin faction guillotine Mr. Gouge also ! 

But when, in the sequel, it became manifest that the President had suppressed this in- 
formation on account of his own appointments being found more culpable than those whom 
party spirit had devoted for proscription ; when he and his chosen deputies had in a thous- 
and respects obstructed, perverted, and utterly confounded the public service, is there not 
some redeeming quality in those of his deluded partisans, who, discovering the mischiefs 
they have aided in placing him in the position to bring down upon bis betrayed country, 
have promptly and fearlessly abjured their errors, and repudiated the faction he has reared 
up 1 Do they not deserve infinitely more credit for their honest efforts at atonement, than 
those others I might mention, who, from a previous knowledge and minute familiarity with 
his want of moral education, his utter destitution of statesmanly endowments, and the un- 
governable impetuosity of his sordid passions, declared in his first canvass, that "the elec- 
tion of Andrew Jackson would be a curse to his country," but who, after his success, and 



35 

his administration had indeed become a pervading, a withering curse to the remotest cor- 
ners of the Union, became his warmest advocates upon the whole-hog principle; and even 
profess to " sink or swim" with that " pustule of part}'," that "fungus of faction," that 
"incubus on the body politic," which lie has adroitly managed to palm upon a too con- 
fiding people, for four dark and dreary years of crying calamity ! 

Long before my letter to President Jackson of the 3d October, 1830, above quoted, I had 
received abundant evidence to satisfy my mind that it was his settled determination to turn a 
deaf ear to all representations of the official delinquencies of his own appointees; and I had 
stumbled upon many reasons for entertaining such a surmise, even while the general bill of 
indictment was in prepartion, which partly fortified me with the determination to hold them 
up as a mirror before his face, in the presence of his Cabinet, (one of whom, the Postmas- 
ter General, if not all the rest, was indirectly implicated, either personally or for neglect,) 
to challenge his firmness and integrity to apply reform to them, as well as to his opponents 
for opinion-sake. I will now give a few evidences of this connivance. 

III. During the preparation of said indictment, I had presented to the President and the 
Secretary of War (who, with the rest of his colleagues, dared not act in such critical matters 
without the President's approbation) many facts, showing the imbecility and ignorance of 
the laws in the presiding officer in the Pension Office, which, had they been investigated, 
and the office immediately put under the management of a competent head, would in all 
probability have prevented the great temptations held out, thereby, to the cupidity of fraud- 
ulent adventurers, and consequently have saved the conflagration of the Treasury building, 
the notorious device subsequently resorted to to consume the evidences of those frauds, but, 
not succeeding in that object, terminated in the ignominious suicide of one of them, the 
absconding of others, and the conviction of many. 

I regret that, for want of space, I cannot here enter into the particular statements. They 
purported, in part, to show that the applications for pensions had accumulated in the course 
of the summer and fall of 1832, to about 30,000,000 in number, without scarcely a dozen 
cases having been acted on by the head of the office ; that the correspondence of the office, 
acknowledging the receipt of applications, was almost entirely neglected during that time, 
to the great annoyance, of anxious claimants, thereby multiplying infinitely their letters of 
inquiry ; that the business of the office, from those and other causes, was brought into a 
state of almost inextricable confusion, for the relief of which, and to bring up the lost time, 
the Secretary of War was under the necessity, on his return from a long absence, to distri- 
bute this great mass of pension claims, among some twenty or thirty persons, to be briefed 
and stated, preparatory to their adjudication, most of which persons were not endowed 
with the first idea of what constituted a brief; and then, to subdivide the functions of 
the head of the office beween five subordinates, to adjudicate the claims allotted to each, 
coming from five corresponding divisions of the Union. Thus were those thousands of 
perplexing,* and in many respects unintelligible claims, for the most part falsely and erro- 
neously stated at hap-hazard by those blundering uriefetis, (who knew less of their new 
functions than a blind horse does of walking in a beaten track,) placed for adjudication in- 
to the hands of subordinates, with the dignified titles nevertheless of heads of division's, 



* There can be no d oubt on the minds of those who have paid any attention to federal legislation, that our 
pension system is the most intricate part of the whole, and that it requires more profound legal acumen to 
execute those laws than any which fall to the lot of other executive departments to put in practice. The 
testimony ol the Secretary of the Navy, in relation to the navy pension laws alone, will bear me out in this 
remark, as applied to the whole pension system. In his hist annual report the Secretary says: 

" The multiplication of these laws, ami the various constructions placed upon them at different times, 
seem to indicate the propriety of adopting a less complicated system. I would also take the occasion to state 
that, whatever disposition may be made of the subject, it has become necessary to relieve the head of the 
Department from the labor and responsibility of this portion of his duties. 

"Almost every application for a pension involves the necessity of a close and critical examination of tes- 
timony, together with a reference to various laws, and the time required to do this as it ought to be done, ma- 
terially interferes with other and indispensable avocations." 

Now, it is obvious, at the bare suggestion, to every reflecting mind, that the heads of Departments and 
bureaus, who execute the laws, ought to possess the legal endowments necessary to discharge the highest 
judicial functions, and the more especially because their decisions are generally without appeal ; but these 
endowments are only to be attained in the same way that eminent men qualify themselves fir the bench. 
Mr. Edwards's total want of legal attainments, and the unfitness of his education to supply that defect by any 
course or duration of official routine of blunders and unavoidable wrong action from radical defect, is not pe- 
culiar to him, as a high executive officer ; this deficiency ha3 manifested itself in most of C'.neral Jackson's 
appointments, and forms a prominent part of that pervading curse which his and the present administration 
have inflicted on the country. Yet, the present Congress have transferred the navy pension laws to the 
additional charge of this officer, and, at the same time, have reduced his salary ; whereas his compensation 
ought to have been increased, as his bodily and menial throes in blundering through his duties must be in- 
finitely more fatiguing than would be the intellectual recreation to an able judicial head in discharging the 
same duties with unexceptionable propriety. 



36 

most of whom were utterly incompetent to detect the errors and perversions of the briej?. 
Whether it wa3 a harder case for the Treasury, or for the sections of claimants whose heads 
of divisions were dunderheads,* I will not undertake to conjecture. But all this was con- 



* One of these was a Mr. Ela, who, in this pressing conjuncture of business of the Pension Office, and while 
in the receipt of a salary of HI, -WO a year, actually hired his services to the Executive organ, the Globe, as 
reporter of the Congressional proceedings, necessarily absenting himself from the office the greater part of 
every day during the session. (Mr. Ela is now the disbursing agent of the Secretary of the Treasury.) Another 
was a Mr. Duffield, a youth, who proposed to charge perquisites on the pensioners whose claims were allowed 
in his division. It would be probably worthy of inquiry how many claims erroneously admitted have been 
since reversed , and how many erroneously rejected have been since admitted to the pension rolls. The 
following letter will give some illustration of many of the matters alluded to in the text: 

Washington, February 28, 1S33. 

To his Excellency the President op the United States. 

" As this is the day for making the monthly payments to clerks and others employed in the Departments, 
were this communication to your excellency delayed a moment longer it might fail to save to the Govern- 
ment a large amount in perquisites, lavished upon clerks and others, bearing very much the appearance of 
authorized swindling. That which has been practised for several months past has probably gone beyond re 
covery. Were your excellency to require of Mr. Vankleek, the pay clerk in the War Department, to suspend 
his payments to clerks and others for extra services until their accounts are presented to yourself or a com- 
missioner for examination, you will have it in your power to see and arrest these perquisites, to a large amount, 
which clerks are receiving, in some instances greatly exceeding their fixed salaries, and contrary to the law 
which forbids such extra payments or compensations, except under the authority of specific and express ap- 
propriations. 

" In similar cases of extra pressure of business, I believe it has been the usuge of the General Post Office 
Department to require the clerks to increase their diligence, and work both late and early, in some cases 
before breakfast and beyond midnight, on the compensation of their fixed salaries ; and, if they could not 
master it in this Way, extra clerks were employed at fixed rates of compensation per month, but no perquisite:; 
given on any hand. 

" Several clerks who were absent from the Pension Office a great part of the summer, had scarcely returned 
to their duty before they were making charges for extra work, erroneously authorized, and, in some instances, 
exceeding their salaries. Another detection in the abuse of patronage will be made by requiring the bills 
for this extra work at the Pension Office to be exhibited to you. One individual, if not more, who has been 
dismissed from office within the last four years, has been receiving this patronage to an amount that cannot 
fall short of thirty or forty dollars per day. 

" But a still greater grievance to the Government in this matter is, that the extra work charged for by- 
clerks has interfered with their official duties in other bureaus, from which they absent themselves at all 
hours to infest and besiege the Pension Office, seeking for, bringing, and carrying their work. Also, when 
done, the greater part of it has been so perverted and falsified, such as denyuig facts set forth in the decla- 
rations for pensions, and asserting facts which do not exist in the declarations, denying them to be properly 
authenticated, when they are so, and declaring them to be properly authenticated when they are not so, 
and even changing the names of the declara/its, and otherwise perplexing the briefs with such multipli- 
city of perversions as to take up more time to correct and revise their work in the office than it would to do 
it without such aid. 

" Of these things I have felt myself in duty bound to give you some intimation, though it is far from cov- 
ering the whole ground. 

" With profound respect, I am vour obedient servant, 

"ROBERT MAYO." 

" P. S. Commissioners to examine the pay clerk's books in all the Departments would, no doubt, lead to 
great detections, &c, in the improper direction of public patronage." 

(Indorsations on tlie back.) 

" Referred to the Secretary of War, that he may forthwith direct Mr. Robb, or some other confidential 
agent, to investigate, and make report on, the within charges to the P. A. J." 

" Mr. Robb will call upon Dr. Mayo and investigate these matters. L. C." 

It will be perceived that " confidential," (the favorite term of General Jackson.) used in the above en 
dorsaiion, restricted the investigation pretended to be ordered, and so it turned out in fact ; Tor, when I pre- 
sented myself to Mr. Robb, to go into the investigation, he declined to hear any thing but what 1 " person- 
ally knew" in the various matters represented. He refused to hear other witnesses that I desired to have 
examined; and, as it was impossible that I could have " personal knowledge" of a tenth part of what was 
currently known to different individuals connected with the facts, I peremptorily refused to enter into so 
partial and secret an investigation, which was now likely to be turned into an engine of vengeance against 
me, without effecting the exposure I desired to make, and which the public interest called for. It will be 
seen, in the sequel, how this artifice of turning the batteries of test oaths upon honest reformers was carried 
out by the President in the committee of the House, in the session of lS36-'37. 

Whether any report was made on the above to the President I never learnt, but, if there was, it could not 
have been in any way disparaging to me ; for, happening to have occasion, some time after, to call on thfi 
Secretary of State on businesSjthe Secretary of War, in whose Department I was still a clerk, and engaged 
in the business he refers to, (of compiling the Pension Laws,) gave me a Utter of introduction, of which the 
following is a copy, and which is, in itself, an ample refutation of any exceptions that could be attempted 
to be raised against me while in that Department. Had not the Secretary more reason to blink his real sen- 
timents of Edwards, the favorite of Jackson and Eaton, than of myself, who would disdain to be the favorite 
of any one in power? Let those who understand these matters best, answer. There is yet another secret 
enchantment that has given Mr. Edwards the artificial character of a marvellous proper 'man with a certain 
class of pensioners and pension agents. It will be time enough yet to tell of this. 

" Washington, May 2, 1833- 
" My Dear Sir : Dr. Mayo will hand you this letter. Permit me to introduce him to you. You will find 
him a gentleman of scientific attainments, and of a very respectable character and standing. From the fact 
of an important business having been recently entrusted to him, I have been brought considerably in contact 
with him, and I have found him attentive, we'll informed, and capable. 

" I am, dear sir, truly yours, 
" Hon. Louis McLane " " LEW. CASS. 



37 

sidered unavoidable from the necessity of the case.' and the consolation generally expressed 
in the office and by the Secretary of War, under the full conviction of the evil, was, that the 
errors could be corrected at leisure hereafter, wheti the accumulation of the business should 
be reduced by this process — a process, I contended, on the contrary, which was calculated to 
make confusion doubly confounded ; to throw doubt and suspicion upon the former adjudi- 
cation, in every case, and to impose the necessity of re-examination and renewed action upon 
them, resulting in an enormous, perplexing increase, instead of a diminution of the business 
of the office : and I suggested, as a better alternative, to engage members of the bar in the 
District to do the briefing and to adjudicate the claims ; and, in order to save clerical duty 
and give prompt answers to claimants, to have printed forms of letters acknowledging the 
receipt of their applications. 

Among other matters thus represented to the President, I distinctly recollect handing to 
him a copy of a letter from James L. Edwards, the head of the Pension Office, addressed 
to John Robb, then acting Secretary of War, and dated in August, 1832. It purports to 
be an answer to an inquiry by Mr. Robb, relative to the pension of a Mr. Howard, claimed 
by a Mr. West, as creditor and pension agent of the pensioner, Howard. General Jackson 
put that letter in his pocket, with as entire unconcern as if it was nothing, after I had read 
it to him, and commented upon the law thereby grossly infringed. No doubt he was in- 
dignant when he afterwards found these matters pertinaciously (contumaciously, as he 
might think) introduced in the general bill of indictments, in which his own appointees 
found no favor or affection for their official delinquencies. That letter had been sent to 
Mr. West, and, by particular request, had been returned to the Pension Office, where it 
arrived, by good luck, pending the temporary absence of Mr. Edwards, and thus fell into 
the hands of the then chief clerk, B. L. Beall, Esq., acting in his stead, who showed it 
to A. G. Glynn and myself, then clerks in the office. With their approbation, I took a 
copy of it, for the Secretary of War, or the President, ns the case might be, and they tes- 
tified to it as a true copy. 1 did not consider my duty to the head of the office as super- 
seding my duty to my country, but as co-ordinate with it; and that, so soon as he should 
become recreant to his trust, my duty to him ceased in that particular, and my duty to the 
President, and, finally, to the country, was to expose it. The subjoined extract embraces, 
word for word, the principal contents of that letter of Mr. Edwards to Mr. Robb : 

"Such cases as Howard's frequently occur. There is no remedy now in the case but proceeding against 
him according to law. He has received all the money arising from his pension up to the 4th of March last. 
If, however, Mr. West will enter a caveat herb, we ivill endeavor to STor the payment due in September 
Mr. AV. should send on his certificate, [meaning Howard's pension certificate,] accompanied by a statement 
r-f the far!;;, under oath, before the ith of next, month. 

"(Signed) J. L. EDWARDS." 

Mr. Edwards says, " such cases as Howard's frequently occur!" The fair presumption, 
then, is, that he gives the same counsel to all such creditors of pensioners as report their 
claims to him, and desire to have the stipends of the pensioners stopped, to pay their debts. 
Now, there are but two remarks necessary to place this correspondence between Mr. 
Edwards and Mr. Robb in its true light before those who are otherwise uninformed on 
the subject. The first is, that neither the Secretary of War nor the Commissioner of 
Pensions has any legal right to interfere, in any manner whatever, with the payment of 
pensions, after the justice of the claims, and their amount, have been adjudged in the office, 
and the pension certificates made out and transmitted. Secondly, the payments of pen- 
sions are made, under the instructions of the Second Comptroller of the Tieasury, by 
pension agents, to the pensioners themselves, or to their attorneys; but, whenever made 
to an attorney, said attorney is required by law to produce his power of attorney, and 
to make oath, before a magistrate, that he has no interest whatever in the pension he is 
empowered to receive by such power of attorney, for the benefit of the pensioner. 

Subsequent to the above-mentioned occurrence, I met with Mr. Howard in this city, 
and, upon the subject of his hardships with the Pension Office being introduced in conversa- 
tion, I showed him a copy of the foregoing extract which I had retained in my possession ; 
he then placed in my hands the following letter, which convicts the office and the acting 
Secretary of War of an interference which they knew was a violation of law ; and which 
put the pensioner under the necessity of petitioning the Secretary of War for the issue of 
another pension certificate, as will appear by the subjoined extract from his memorial, a 
copy of which he also handed to me at the same time, for such use as I might see fit to 
make of them. It will be seen by this letter to Mr. Howard, that Mr. West did comply 
with the advice of Mr. Edwards and Mr. Robb, to send the pension certificate to the office, 
probably with the caveat, "to stop the payment due Howard the 4th September." Self-con- 
viction is the best evidence of wilful wrong, knowing it to be so. 



38 

" War Department, 
"Pension Office, September 12, 1>32. 
Sip: Your letter to the acting Secretary of War has been received. lam desired by him to say to yotii 
that this Department cannot interfere in the private concerns of any individual whatever. The pension cer- 
tificate issued in your name, and deposited here by Mr. West of Baltimore, has been returned to him. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

William R. Palmer, for J. L. EDWARDS. 
Mr. George W. Howard, present. 

To the Hon. Lewis Cass, Secretary of War: 

The memorial of Geo. W. Howard, an invalid pensioner of the United States, respectfully showeth. 
*********** 

Your memorialist begs your indulgence, sir, while he briefly states some circumstances more immediately 
connected with the present case. That, in 1830, Congress was pleased to increase his pension to 814 per 
month ; that, his pension being made payable in Baltimore, and his residence beincr in Washington, he found 
it advisable to appoint an agent there, in the person of Mr. West, tailor, who has collected the same semi-an- 
nually for the last four years, to March, 1832 ; that, in the performance of his agency, this man has from time 
to lime injuriously speculated upon the necessities of your memorialist by over-charges, and in purchasing 
up his debts, due to third persons, and in detaining the said amounts out of his small pension ; and lurther, 
in causing him to be arrested last April while in his store in Baltimore, and detained in duress until he was 
forced to renew two obligations for $G0, from the payment of which he had been but lately absolved by the 
insolvent laws of the District of Columbia. That the said West has made several personal and written state- 
ments to the acting Secretary, Mr. Robb, and to Mr. Edwards, of whose friendship towards him he boast ing- 
ly speaks, in his letters to your memorialist of the 4t!i and 17th instants; that he still holds the certificate, 
and refuses to deliver up the same except upon conditions of extreme injustice, such as your memorialist 
could never submit to. 

Under all the circumstances of the case, your memorialist respectfully requests that a renewal of the 
original certificate may be granted, as no inconvenience whatever can possibly arise to the Government 
agents here by so doing, the d< tention of the certificate by West being known to them, and matter of record 

in the. Pension office. . ,,__ 

GEO. W. HOWARD. 

As some evidence that the Secretary of War, General Cass, took no exception to my 
representations of these matters, either anterior to the general bill of indictments, or in con- 
nexion with it, and that his good opinion of me underwent no -diminution on that ac- 
count, and, as a further proof of his anxious efforts to do all he dared do to remedy the 
evils incident to the office, he assigned to me, in the spring following, the trust of com- 
piling the pension laws, the opinions of Attorney Generals thereon, and the rules and reg- 
ulations of the Pension Office, for the use of the Department. — See note, page 36. 

Some time after the above transactions, while the President and the Secretary of War 
were absent from Washington on a visit to the East, I was dismissed from the Pension 
Office, along with two other temporary clerks, by Edwards and Robb, (the latter again 
acting as Secretary of War) they alleging as a pretext for so doing, that the business of 
the office had so diminished as to leave nothing for me to do: which, in my remonstrances 
to the President, on his return to Washington the July following, I proved to be untrue 
and insincerely alleged, by reference to the work in arrear, and the subsequent increase of 
appointments in the office. Notwithstanding the proofs I adduced, the President evaded 
all inquiry into the facts, by permitting them to repeat the assertion that there was nothing 
for us to do, endorsing my papers to that effect, and returned them to rf,e, thus: 

<• Dr. Robert Mayo— about His dismission from office. The actiui Secretary of War being sent for, reports 
that there is no duty for those clerks to perform in the Pension Office ; therefore, iheir further service dis- 
pensed with. Dr. Mayo continued ten days to complete the index, &c , &c. A. J." 

The injustice of this partial course struck me so forcibly, that I was induced to resubmit 
the case to the President, with further evidence of the disingenuousness of the action upon 
me showing that it proceeded from personal resentment in derogation to the good of the 
public service, and to ask him to reconsider his decision ; upon which he again made this 
endorsement, "Acting Secretary of War reports ' no duty for those clerks to perform,' 
therefore, their further services not wanted. — A. J." Yet, one of those clerks was pre- 
sently reinstated in the Pension Office, and the other transferred to another Department, 
makin" the action unequivocally personal to me. Upon conversing with the President 
again on the subject, he excused himself for not replacing me, by saying that were he to 
do so he would have to dismiss Mr. Edwards. 

Further details of this case must be deferred to another occasion for want of room. 
But before dismissing it, I must remark, that it affords another proof that the President had 
adopted a temporizing course between his delinquent friends in office, and those others 
who either from a sense of public duty, or because they had a soul to be saved, could not, 
conscientiously, be cognizant of unofficerly conduct and connive at it, without feeling that 
they were purticeps criminis in the same ; and that he would even permit the latter to go 
to the wall for the time being; though, in the sequel, he would show by his acts, that 
they had not forfeited his impartial approbation, if he could only prevail on them to permit 
the most heinous offences against the public service to pass before their eyes unnoticed, 
but by "blinking them." 



e 



39 

IV. I cannot, however, forego the statement of another case here, as it affords a direct 
confirmation of this view of the double malign policy of Jackson's Administration. 

A month or two after incurring the resentment of the chuckle-head of the Pension Office, 
I was referred by the President to the bacchanalian head of the General Land Office, Elijah 
Hay ward, for temporary employment there; thus, as it were, endeavoring to make me a 
time-server every where, as such was the temporary nature of my imployment in every 
instance. This reference was gratifying to me nevertheless, (the time-serving apart) as 
were all the subsequent instances of the sort, because they afforded unequivocal evidence 
that my dismissals by the offended dignitaries of bureaus (though of the same Jackson 
school I then professed) were not for cause impugning my official conduct and fidelity. 
I had been but little more than a month in the Land Office, associated with a Mr. Jordan, 
also a new appointment, when I discovered that the business which had been carved out 
for us, was illegal, impracticable, and nugutory — being no other than to make a new 
arrangement of all the "title papers" of the Office, according to the fanciful notion of 
the commissioner, conceived possibly in a moment, or rather a seizure, of inebriety — the 
former arrangement being a most admirable one, according to land districts, and consecu- 
tive as to dates and numbers. It occurred to me that this fools-errand probably originated 
in a good natured disposition to give Jordan and myself our bread, without disturbing the 
legitimate patronage of the office already disposed of to other favorites, reckless of the cost 
to the Government in paying us to undo that which was already better done, regardless of the 
inconvenience to those in the office who had to consult these title papers, they being already 
familiar with the old arrangement, and would never be able to penetrate the mazy confu- 
sion of the new, could it ever be accomplished; the utter impossibility of which was after- 
wards established by Hay ward himself abandoning the enterprise after tumbling and shuffling 
half through the files of one land district, as I have been informed, and leaving them in that 
anomalous condition which is a practical commentary on the imbecility of a drunken 
reformer. While I was making out a report to the Commissioner, in order to exhibit to 
his "sober second thoughts" the true character of this employ ment, and to ask of him to be 
detailed to some other function, another circumstance occurred, which increased the offen- 
siveness of it, and totally disgusted me with the Commissioner. It was, the introduction 
of one of the most notorious drunkards in the community, William Sinn, to work cheek 
by jole with me, on the same business. He was incompetent to do the work in any past- 
able manner from habitual inebriation ; he would have measurably to be my pupil in it; 
and I totally repudiated both the business and the association, as I would have objected to 
Hayward himself, had I been subjected to such close personal association in office with him. 

This led to a long series of negotiations for other employment in the office, in which 
there was no good feeling manifested on either side, and which resulted in a representation 
from me to the President, on the 4th February, 1834, detailing, among various reprehen- 
sible acts of the Commissioner, certain other abuses in the disbursements of the contingent 
appropriations for bringing up the arrears of the office, for which William Steuben Smith 
was the agent, as he was also for the disbursement of all the other appropriations for the 
Land Office at the seat of Government. Among other things connected with the improper 
disbursement of those contingent appropriations, out of which I had been paid, and which 
I had had occasion to examine, in order to ascertain all the circumstances connected with 
an injustice that had been done me, I discovered, and represented to the President, from 
the vouchers of the agent, and the final settlement of his accounts for the year 1833, at 
the First Comptroller's office, that Smith was at that time debtor to the United States in a 
considerable sum drawn from the Treasury, and regaining in his hands undisbursed upon 
the objects of the appropriations. And I remarked, upon the various irregularities repre- 
sented, that "this mode of abusing the expenditures of contingent appropriations would, 
no doubt, be apparent on the face of every quarter's accounts of the Land Office." 

I have thus narrowed down those representations against the Commissioner, to the mat- 
ter of the agent's indebtedness to the Government, to show, by the way side, that the sub- 
sequent defalcation of this same agent, for about $12,000, in 1837, would in all probabil- 
ity have been prevented, had the President ordered an investigation of the various matters 
set forth. It did not occur to me, at the time, that the surplus in the hands of the dis- 
bursing officer at the end of the year was the nucleus of a future defalcation, but to pic- 
ture, in strong relief, another irregularity, which was, that the Commissioner had been 
representing to the President, some months before, that these appropriations for extra clerk 
hire were exhausted, and that he had negotiated with the Metropolis Bank, through this 
same disbursing agent, for funds to pay those already employed, while there was actually 



40 

a surplus on hand at the end of the year notwithstanding the great irregularities in their 
disbursement. It now turns out, however, that the surplus drawn from the Treasury by 
Mr. Smith, on the appropriations for extra clerks alone, and which remained in his hands 
undisbursed, went on geometrically increasing from 1833 to 1837; thus: William S. 
Smith, balance to the United States at the end of 1833, $492 30 ; ditto, 1834, $935 70 ; 
ditto, 1835, $2,613 03; ditto, 1836, $4,322 48. 

Yet, so wilfully deaf was Gen. Jackson to these statements of themal-administrationof the 
Land Office, and to shut my mouth in relation to official delinquencies in future, that, while 
he had this case under consideration, he sent me an open note, addressed to Judge Hay ward, 
to replace me in the Land Office, at the same time stating in the note an absolute and un- 
mitigated falsehood, which I considered as an insult, if not an overture of humiliation and 
debasement for the poor pittance of office. I immediately called on the President's private 
Secretary, who had delivered it to the person who handed it to me, and remonstrated in 
the strongest terms against the indignity, denying that I had ever made any such promise 
as that alleged in the note ; that if I could not have office upon honorable terms I would 
have none ; that my oath of office sufficiently designated my line of duty — to be faithful 
to the business committed to my charge, and to support the constitution — and I may now 
add, that every man may be justly regarded as an accomplice in its overthrow who witnesses 
official malfeasances without proclaiming them, as such growing evils unchecked, are 
among the surest means of its ultimate destruction. Major Donelson told me that Judge 
Hay ward had participated in indicting or indicating the note. I called on Hay ward in his 
office and upbraided him with it. He requested to have the note, which 1 refused to deliver, 
it having been sent to me open, for my sanction by delivering it to him. I told him it was 
of course left to my option, or I claimed it as such, and before I would deliver it I would 
have every limb stricken from my body ; that T would hold it as my rightful property, to 
denounce it at the peril of my life. I exhibited it to Mr. Speaker Stevenson, to the Hon. 
John Y. Mason, to the Secretary of War, Gen. Cuss, and to several others, strongly ex- 
pressing my sentiments of its foul character, to which not one gave utterance of a dissen- 
tient or even mitigating opinion. It will be seen that General Jackson also speaks of rrij 
distress. This, I have every reason to believe, was the superfetation of haughty insolence, 
rather than the supererrogation of ill-timed sympathy. Thank God no physical distress has 
ever yet reached that moral independence which I hope my ever unsubdued sense of pro- 
priety will continue to dictate ! Here is the note, a fac simile of which I shall have lylho- 
graplied hereafter : 

Tlie President to Judge Hayward. 

" Judge Haywani, by giving Dr. Mayo employ as a clerk, will fully meet my approbation ; he is in dish e. 

and assures me he will faithfully attend to his ditties, and with diligence., interfering with none in 

THE OFFICE. 

12th March, 1834. ANDBEW JACKSON." 

""Some time after this, the President returned me those statements against the Commis- 
sioner, in part, with a new envelope bearing the following endorsement — probably my 
original envelope was retained with the statements not returned — 

" Dr. Mayo: real injuries, the Executive haa power in his Executive Departments to redress -nut ima 
ginary wrongs. A. .1." 

I concluded, at the time, that the above recited occurrence would put an end to all in- 
tercourse between myself and the President, as it accordingly did, to the best of my recol- 
lection, until the adjournment of Congress, four months thereafter; when, as I have before 
stated, he hailed me at the east front of the Capitol, on taking his seat in his carriage, and 
desired me come to the mansion the next morning, to refer me to the Secretary of State, 
Mr. Forsyth, for the appointment to till the place of Alexander Mclntyre, removed from 
the chief clerkship of the Patent office. This was entirely unexpected to me, as I had 
made no application of the sort, and had no intimation from any quarter, of an intention 
to turn out Mclntyre — a measure of proscription taken, as I am informed, without 
previous notice, without intimation of cause, and of course without a hearing, those 
boasted indispensable preliminaries of equal justice, so fully quoted in the foregoing affi- 
davit, but uniformly set aside by his rule of practice, worse indeed than the jacobin rule of 
granting the forms at least of a mock trial, before the application of the guillotine. I have 
no doubt, however, that the cause of this visitation upon Mclntyre was found embodied 
in the representations of some of the contributors to the general bill of indictments, which 
the President had denounced in mass, but which he had probably laid on the shelf for his 
action in detail, to suit that taste for proscription towards his political opponents, which had 
been marred for the time by the implication of his political friends. 



41 

My short career in that office was as eventful and exciting as it had been elsewhere, and 
resulted in the dismissal of its head and myself in less than six months, as had been pre- 
dicted ; but this was followed by reinstating me shortly after, which I had a right to con- 
sider as my justification ; and where I continued in the most perfect harmony with Doctor 
Craig's estimable successor, J. C. Pickett, Esq., until his second appointment to a foreign 
mission, and the reorganization of the Patent office took place in order to pay an "Execu- 
tive political debt to the State of Connecticut" by the appointment, and increase of salary, 
of the present incumbent, whose official delinquencies and unfitness for the station soon 
suggested to him the measure of prudence, to dispense with my presence. These also will 
be°fruitful subjects for a future narrative. My next and last location was as sole clerk in 
a temporoiy bureau in the War Department, in October, 1836, as already stated, and 
which, in an eminent degree, under all the circumstances, I had a right to cherish and 
esteem as my full justification, from beginning to end, the appointment being made within 
ten days after my letter of the 3d October, 1836, to Gen. Jackson, already quoted. 

V. Let us now suppose, as may be perceived by the foregoing abstracts, that from the 
commencement of Jackson's administration, I too (but without contemplating in the slight- 
est degree a disparagement of the public service as will presently be seen) chimed in with 
the doctrine of "rotation in office," a doctrine cherished by the followers of Jackson's 
footsteps to this dav ; let us suppose that I too concurred in the political heresy that "the 
spoils of victory belong to the victors." Might I not then ask, if not triumphantly in my 
justification, at least as my apology, where was there to be found one Jackson man in a 
hundred who would have uttered the first reproof, at that time, against those doctrines \ 
Were they not "the very errors of the moon" which characterised the mad career of the 
Jackson era throughout 1 

Yes, whether it be necessary or not, I will bear testimony against myself, (and I invoke 
you other deluded Jacksen men to do likewise,) that in accordance with those sentiments, 
I warmly advocated the establishment of the Globe in 1830-'31, and set on foot a contribu- 
tion of loans for that object ; that I assisted Amos Kendall in its editorial superintendence, 
early in 1831, while its editor was on a visit to New York to procure a steam-press; and 
that, in 1833, I assisted in procuring the edict of the President which he addressed to all 
the Executive Departments requiring them to bestow their printing patronage on the editor 
of the Globe, whose letter I bore to the President in the spring of that year, demanding it 
as a right of the. Executive to concentrate the emoluments of its patronage on its own 
organ, "while the legislative branches of the Government bestowed theirs upon the National 
Intelligencer, and other partisans of the opposition. [But fair play is a jewel, and I never 
dreamt of his claiming, as now, a monopoly of the patronage of both the Legislative and Ex- 
ecutive Departments of the Government.]" Moreover, in accordance with the mania of the 
day, I had proposed, in the Hickory Club Association in 1832, in effect a resolution, "that 
the members of the Club would confine their dealings among the friends of the adminis- 
tration." But that proposition, indeed, was made more with a view to bring the doctrine 
of proscription, for opinion-sake, to a practical extreme, to see what could be made ot it, 
rather than from any expectation or desire that it would or could be carried into effect; for, 
it is a fact that must be well known to many citizens of Washington, that my own little 
dealings, however unfortunate as yet some of them have resulted, were made without dis- 
crimination of party, and were for the most part with political opponents, from convenience 
and personal preference, regardless of political opinions. On the other hand, I also in- 
troduced about the same time, in the same Association, another resolution, "that, while 
this Club view with approbation the proposed reform of public officers for the vices of pe- 
culation, intemperance, immorality, imbecility, neglect of public duty, and defection to 
the principles of our republican institutions, [such were the political opinions I thought 
objectionable, and the objection now applies more strongly to the false reformists than it 
ever did to the proscribed,] it is especially incumbent on Jackson republicans, who hold, 
or desire to hold office, to be able to present clean bills of officer-like conduct and qualifi- 
cations of their own ; and that we view the want of these commendations, or any of them, 
to be as disqualifying to professing Jackson men, as to our political opponents, in the ad- 
vancement of the public service, and ought equally to exclude them from public trust." 
But both of these resolutions were almost unanimously rejected ; whereas the latter ought 
to have been as unanimously adopted, while the rejection of the former should have opened 
the eyes of every man to the practical injustice of the doctrines of the spoilsmen. 

VI. If any one doubts at the present day, that these doctrines (of which the former is but 
the convenient accessory to the latter) characterised the Jackson era from beginning to end, 
let him accompany me in a coursory survey of their incipient symptoms, with their subse- 
4 



42 

quent wide-spread contagion, and he will doubt no longer. From a summary of the facts, 
brought together so a3 to show their connexion and bearing, otherwise obscured by an 
isolated view of them dispersed through the separate periods in which they occurred, it will 
be manifest that General Jackson's purpose of reform promised at his inauguration, in 
conformity with the declared object of his election, was either insincere from the first, or 
was very soon abandoned, and substituted by a general system of malversation of the most 
flagitious character — nothing less than the converting the executive patronage into a great 
capital-in-trade for political gamblixg, commenced under the edict that he would 
punish his enemies and reward his friends, and carried into practice under the professions 
that rotation in office was a salutary renovation of official accountability, and that the 
spoils of victory rightfully belong to the victors, regardless of demerit, or infidelity to the 
public service ; that, in order to protect his friends in the enjoyment of these precious 
fruits, won by his demon of party spirit, he not only turned a deaf ear to all complaints 
of their malconduct, but freely brandished the hundred tongues of executive calumny 
against those who urged the investigation of the frauds, the defalcations, and other delin- 
quencies of his official parasites. Viewing the facts under this aspect of their real connex- 
ion and bearing, there need be no surprise at the moral turpitude of his conduct towards 
hundreds of persecuted individuals, his treachery to public confidence, and general sacrifice 
of the public weal and the good of the service, to factious and sinister party ends. In 
his inaugural address he uttered, with appropriate emphasis, this memorable and oft-quoted 
passage : 

"The recent demonstration of public sentiment inscribes on the list of Executive duties,in characters tco 
legible to be overlooked, the task of reform; which will require, particularly, the correction of those abuses 
that have brought the patronage of the Federal Government into conflict with thefreedom of elections, and 
the counteraction of those causes which have disturbed the rightful course of appointment, and ha\e placed, 
or continued, power in unfaithful or incompetent hands." 

But there is also a favorite axiom adopted by General Jackson, that " the tree is known 
by its fruit." Accordingly, notwithstanding the chart laid down by himself in his inaugural 
for his future guidance, the first act of his executive power was to dismiss the faithful and 
competent Secretaries he found at the head of all the Executive Departments, also the At- 
torney General, the Postmaster General, and nearly all the heads of bureaus — with a ge- 
neral recall of our foreign ministers — and a removal of the principal officers of the revenue — 
also district attorneys, marshals, &c; whose places he supplied, in many respects, by 
"unfaithful or incompetent hands," who, in their turn, dismissed many of their principal 
clerks and deputies, in pursuance of the implied instructions of their great tV-KESPO^siBLE 

CHIEFTAIN. 

To this general description of his appointments there were exceptions, as possessing both 
ability and fidelity, and who declined following the implied instructions to turn out their 
subordinates — for which refractory and contumacious rebellion against the "demon of 
party spirit," that voracious blood-hound of the spoils, they have never been pardoned; 
but have been reviled and persecuted, in various forms, by the proscriptionists of the Ken- 
dall stamp, down to the present day. 

To aid the President and his chosen lieutenants, the heads of departments, and their 
deputies in the bureaus, to complete this work of proscription at the outset, disingenuously 
substituted for reform, he was furnished by some of his coadjutors with a list of all the 
officers in the departments, most of them marked for the guillotine on political grounds.' 
The Postmaster General, Mr. McLean, being a political friend of the President, would 
have been an exception to the general sweep in the first instance, and have been retained, 
had he consented to the purposes of the above-mentioned list, as it applied to his depart- 
ment ; but being resolved to incur dismissal rather than disgrace his department with it, he 
was transferred out of the way, to a vacancy on the bench of the Supreme Court, and his 
place given to one who would comply, and who shortly after bankrupted the Department. 
[By the by, this vacancy on the bench had been reserved more than four months before, 
through one entire session of the court, as a political " spoil" for General Jackson's dis- 
posal, by his party friends in the Senate rejecting a nomination previously made by his 
predecessor to fill it.*] In fact, so generally was the sinister purpose of all the professions 



* The above is in allusion to an extract from the journals of the Senate, which I find in an eloquent 
speech of the Hon. C. Gushing, of Massachusetts, addressed to his constituents in Lowell, August 22, 1837. 
That act of the Senate shows the early origin, though comparatively small beginning, of party corruption in 
appropriating to themselves the "spoils" of victory. It shows how unguardedly, inconsiderately, eminent 
men may give into a thing wrong in principle, but reconciled to it by its partial and limited operational 
the time, which they themselves, or most of them, afterwards viewed with so much abhorrence, when its full 



43 

of reform understood by many of General Jackson's partisans at a distance, who had 
assisted with their might and main to place the immense executive patronage in his hands, 



grown enormity had overspread the land with calamities and moral debasement that will require the admin- 
istrations of more than a dozen Washing tons, successively, to heal and reclaim. As a strong evidence of 
the unconsciousness of some of those gentlemen, of the mischievous example they were establishing, among 
those who gave the pernicious vote in question, is recorded the name of Louis McLane,the distinguished son 
of Col. McLane of Delaware, who was identified, as collector of the customs at Wilmington, with Mr. Jeffer- 
son's repudiation of the spoils doctrine, upon iis first suggestion, on the eve of his election, in 1801. Mr. 
Cushing was reminded of that party action of the Senate by the train of disastrous events that had progres- 
sively grown out of that spoils policy carried to lawless extremities, which he had been commenting upon, 
and which I will quote in part here, in the same order he gave it, before noticing the Senate's proceeding, as 
showing the connexion between great events and their small remote causes. Speaking o( the pernicious Ex- 
ecutive project, miscalled sub-Treasury, Mr. Cushing, at page 6 of his speech, says : 

" Gentlemen, if this plan should be adopted by Congress, its consequences will, in my apprehension, be 
altogether disastrous ; and I venture to trespass on your indulgence a few moments longer, while I touch 
upon some of the objections to the plan which occur to my mind. 

"It would be a palpable dereliction of the duty of the Federal Government. It supposes the banks to be 
abandoned to their fate, the currency abandoned, the people abandoned. Can the twenty-eight States and 
Territories regulate the currency 1 Impossible. You might as well think to give upthe customs to the States, 
and hope to see them agree on the duties to be imposed on imported merchandise. It is just the old question 
between the Confederation and the Union. The Federal Government, and that alone, has power to regulate 
commerce and the currency, so as to give equality and uniformity to the medium of exchange in all parts of 
the United States ; and it is the bounden duly of the Federal Government to exert is powers In this respect. 

" This gross abandonment of the duty of the Federal Government is sought to be glossed over by a plausible 
watchword or party cry — the separation, as it is called, of bank and Slate. I think, with Mr. James Gar- 
land, of Virginia, that this idea is more plausible than sound; or rather, it is a mere catchword for the ear, 
totally devoid of sense or sound meaning. You mean to separate bank and State, and leave the currency to 
shift for itself. Very well ; why not separate court and State, and leave the administration of justice to shift 
for itself! Or law and Slate, and leave the law to make itself? Or custom-house and State, and leave the 
duties to be regulated without the care of the Federal Government ? There would be as much sense and 
reason in one as in the other. 

" It would vastly augment the power of the Executive. To use an expression, which I see applied to it in 
the New York Times, it reeks with, despotism. Who shall undertake to describe the added power which it 
would give to one. man ! The multitude of new offices and officers, the new salaries, the pensioned partisans, 
which this cockatrice's egg of perdition will hatch, if it be not promptly crushed under foot by you, the peo- 
ple, whose welfare and liberty it menaces! Should this plan take effect, the Executive will 'have incon- 
ceivable facilities of corruption and abuse, in the permanent use, for that purpose, of all the resources of the 
Treasury. It may be a separation of bank and State; but it is a perpetual union of the purse and the sword 
in the hands of the President. 

" The public moneys would be unsafe. How many cases of defalcation, think you, there have been in the 
Post Office during the last eight years'? The number of defaulters (sureties included) counts in thousands. 
If these men had been intrusted with millions of money, instead of hundreds each, would they have rendered 
a belter account of it i Again: how are the individuals to be intrusted with the millions of public revenue to 
give security for its safe keeping ? How many men are there in Massachusetts, or any otner of the Slates, 
able to give security to the amount of millions 1 How many of such men would be willing to become bound 
as surely for such vast amounts'! A'jain: the Government deposites its money now in the hands of com- 
panies or persons called bnnks, who, together, possess capital enough to respond to the requisite amount of 
the millions deposited. Will individuals, if there be any having sirch large capitals of their own, wish to be- 
come deputy postmasters and collectors'! Again: which is the best security, three men associated, as a col- 
lector and his sureties, or three hundred, associated as a bank? Finally, where do individuals who have 
large sums of money on hand, go for a place of deposite 1 To individuals or to banks ? The conduct which 
every man of sense pursues in his own affairs, demonstrates the absurdity of this new experiment. 

"It is impracticable, in a country like ours, to have one medium for the Gjvernment and another for the 
people; an appreciated currency for the use of the privileged order of office holders, and a depreciated cur- 
rency for the people at large. The undertaking would produce insurrection in monarchies; it would por- 
duce apolitical revolution here. 

" While for so many reasons the scheme would be unwise and unjust, it is eminently impolitic in reference 
to the existing stale of parlies. The new House of Representatives will be all but equally divided, between 
opposition and administration members. Add to which, the friends of the administration in the Senate and 
the House are divided from each other. S ime of them are. for clinging desperately to the otd humbug, some 
for getting up a new one. Others, more wise or more patriotic, wish to stay the progress of destmcti in while 
they have power, and before the. demon of radicalism, which by their incantations has been evoked from 
the abyss, shall turn and rend the master magician as' well as his followers. If the President of the United 
States were here before me, I would exhort him to beware how he enters upon this n»'\v project of mischief, 
which, while it afflicts and distresses the country, truest eventuate in the downfall op Hts party and 

HIS FRIENDS. 

"In General Jackson's unsparing denunciation of the pet banks, composed for the chief part of his own 
zealous partisans and coadjutors in the overthrow of the United Stales Hanli, there seems to be a kind of 
visitation of Providence upon those, who, some by their active agency, others by their willing co operation, 
have contributed to bring on the train of disasters cf which the suspension of specie payments is the con- 
summation. The fact is remarkable in itself; but I became casually acquainted, some time since, with a 
still more striking series of events of the same nature. Let me pluck a leaf from the unwritten history of 
the times. 

" In the executive journals of the Senate of the United States will be found, under the proper dales, the 
follmcing items : 

" On the 18th day of December, 1828, ihere came to the Senate a message from the President, under date 
of the day before, containing the following words: 

" ' I nominate John J. Crittenden, of Kentucky, to be a judge of the Supreme Court of the United States. 

'"JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.' 
" This nomination was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, which reported : 
" ' That it is not expedient to act upon the nomination of John J. Crittenden, as a justice of the Supreme 
Court of the United Slates, during the present session of Congress.' 



44 

that they made a general rush to Washington from all quarters of the Union, ostensibly 
to celebrate the inauguration, but in reality to be in at the brush, to claim their share in 
the distribution of the " spoils" they felt they had won .' . 

Such is an imperfect outline of the mock reform — its progress and character in its first 
stage, as it existed when I took up my residence in Washington in 1830, and of which I 
knew less, probably, than a thousand others who participated in the ceremony and the 
fruits of that ill-omened inauguration, in neither of which did I, or have I ever participated, 
except in the bitterest of the latter. 

VII. A summary of what followed after my arrival, and in which I did participate, we 
have already seen, except an abstract of the origin, the objects, and the explosion of the 
Hickory Club, a particular account of which must await an occasion of more ample space 
than I can devote to it here. I may briefly state, however, that said association was form- 
ed with the knowledge and tacit approbation of General Jackson, as was afterwards freely 
expressed in his letter of thanks to the managers of the Club festival of the 5th December, 
1832, and reported in the Globe a few days thereafter; that it originated in Amos Ken- 
dall, and embraced nearly the same individuals who formed the committee that participated 
in the aforesaid memorial and sequel, though far more extended in numbers, having ex- 
ceeded one hundred before it was dissolved ; that its objects were generally supposed, among 
the members, to be the same as those of the aforesaid committee, that is, to aid in the pro- 
jects of a salutary reform in the public offices, and to advocate the second election of Gen- 
eral Jackson, then approaching, and that of Martin Van Buren as his successor; but the 
complicated purposes of this central machinery thus intended to be put into operation, and 
the most mischievous parts of them were held in reserve, in the breast of the prime insti- 
gator, to be developed from time to time, in public addresses, in the name and at the ex- 
pense of the club, as they should be prepared by this man of all-work himself. The first 
of these publications, widely disseminated through the columns of the Globe and in pam- 
phlet form, gave the first additional intimation of its reserved objects, in a violent attack 
on the United States Bank and its friends in Congress. The next outgiving was that of 
the malign and revolutionary object of destroying all our institutions, State and Federal, 
with the obvious ulterior views to spoliations and plunder, secretly cherished by that "clan- 
destine* and irresponsible adviser of the President," as proclaimed in his address at the 
Hickory Club festival of rejoicing for the result of the election that had just taken place, 
which I have already quoted in part in a note at page 23. But the disorderly and riotous 
termination of that festival resulted in an entire explosion of that association, and of course 
gave a temporary check to its operations, as such ; though I understand its purposes have 
been again revived in another club, under the denomination of the "Democratic Associa- 
tion of the District of Columbia," the principal members of which are in the employment 
of Amos Kendall. 



" This report was debated on successive days in the Senate, and was finally adopted on the 12th of Febru- 
ary, 1829. 

" Those who voted in the affirmative are— Messrs. Barnard, Benton, Berrien, Branch, Chandler, Dick- 
erson, Dudley, Eaton, Hayne, Iredell, Kane, McKinley, McLane, Prince. Ridge'.y, Rowan, Sanford, Smith 
of South Carolina, Tazewell, Thomas, White, Woodbury— 23. 

" Those who voted in the negative are— Messrs. Bell, Boulignv, Burnet, Champers, Chase, Foot, Holmes. 
Johnson of Louisiana, Knight, Marks, Noble, Robbins, Ruggles, Seymour, Silsbee, Webster, Willpy— 17." 

" Gentlemen, this may seem, at first blush, to be a very dry detail of names. But, think of it again ; couple 
the names with the fact, and reflect on what has transpired in their history since, and you will see that every 
word of that record is instinct with a thousand memories. That vote, by which the nomination of John J 
Crittenden was virtually rejected, is one of the most memorable in the annals of our country. Its object was 
to keep vacant the oftice of judge, and, by parity of reasoning, all other offices, for partisans of the 
coming administration. The debate, which ended in that vote, occurred in the secret chamber of exec- 
utive session ; but it was then and there, in and by this vote of the Senate, that the spoils doctrine seas 
introduced into the practices of the Government. And mark well the result. Think over the names I 
have read to you. Where are now the men who constituted that majority of twenty-three ; Some of them 
have utterly vanished from public affairs. They have sunk into such absolute forgetful ness, that you can 
scarce find them in our political history. They have been aushed, destroyed, annihilated, by the jug 
gernaut of party, tchich they themselves rolled in upon the prostrate country. Others, more manly in 
spirit, or more uncompromising in their hatred of misrule, are at this hour, in the country, and in Congress, 
among the leaders and rallying points of the opposition. 

" Gentlemen, this fact is a deeply impressive lesson to all of us. It is full of admonition to every public 
man, to beware how he sacrifices principle to party. It may serve to warn those confident men in the Sen- 
ate and the House of Representatives, who are for hurrying us into thp " untried expedient"— the new nos- 
trum of political quackery — of the destiny in reserve for them." 

Now it would be quite superfluous for me to add here, in order to give a deeper tint to this outrage, that 
the well-known range of John J. Crittenden's legal endowments, as well as public and private character, (if 
not superior,) is certainly not inferior to that of any one of the numerous appointments that have since been 
made by General Jackson, to fill vacancies in the Supreme Court, viz : Taney, Barbour, Baldwin, McLean, 
McKinley, Wayne, Catron. 

♦ See additional note at end of supplement. 



45 

An exposition, in detail, of the other matters here glanced at must also bo deferred for 
the second part of "Eight Years in Washington, showing the identity of Jacksonism and 
Jacobinism," if I should ever be so fortunate as to get it through the press, where it has 
been foundered for more than three months past for want of funds to expedite it, as an- 
nounced by letter of the 3d December last, from my very worthy friend, Mr. J. D. Foy of 
Baltimore, saying "the money has come in driblets, and so far between, that there was 
little encouragement to push the work out as you wished ;" and shortly after he stopped 
altogether, nor could I complain. This is one of the bitter fruits of Mr. Poinsett's dexter- 
ity at cutting my sinews of war : had he as much skill in military tactics as alacrity to do 
the dirty work of party servility, the country would be more benefited by the appropriations 
made for the payment of his §6,000 salary, and the disbursements of §25,000,000 for In- 
dian hostilities ! But [ promise him and his cabal that I shall yet be indefatigable in spirit, 
though broken down in purse. 

VIII. It will now be speedily seen that the peccadilloes, in comparison, with which I was 
continually combatting at the very portals of every office I entered, were but straggling sam- 
ples of the official abominations that revelled on the vital functions in the interior and more 
secret recesses of the Executive Departments. 

So early did the fruits of mal-admistration begin to attract public attention, particularly 
towards the Post Office Department, that a committee of the Senate (consisting of Mr. 
Clayton, Mr. Holmes, Mr. Hendricks, Mr. Grundy, and Mr. Woodbury) was appointed 
in pursuance of a resolution of the 15th December, 1830 — 

" To examine and report the present condition of the Post Office Department ; in 
what manner the laws regulating the Department are admi?iistered ,■ the distribution of 
labor,- the number of clerks, and the duties assigned to each; the number of agents, 
where and how employed ,■ the compensation of contractors ,• and, generally, the entire 
management of the Department ; and whether further, and what, legal provisions are 
necessary to secure the proper administration of its affairs." 

The most remarkable circumstances developed by the journal of proceedings of this 
committee are — 

1st. The insuperable difficulties thrown in the way of its proposed investigations by the 
party objections made by those members of it who were the apologists and party defenders 
of the department, as in duty bound, right or wrong. 

Examples. — "February 1, 1831 — Present, all the members. Mr. Holmes desired to 
have Abraham Bradley, a witness summoned in obedience to an order of the committee, 
sworn. Mr. Woodbury objected to swear and examine the witness at all, until some ex- 
planation is given of the object of his inquiries, &c. Mr. Holmes then proposed to ex- 
amine the witness : first, by asking him the following question: "How long were you 
Assistant Postmaster General, and what were the duties assigned you in the Department?" 
The faithful Messrs. Groundy and Woodbury saw objectioiis to this question ; but Mr. 
Hendricks, who did not then "go the whole hog," voted with Mr. Clayton and Mr. 
Holmes; so the question was put, and answered. "Mr. Holmes then proposed the following 
question :" (when the party polarity of Mr. Hendricks became true to the Jackson com- 
pass,) "Were you removed from your office, and when, and, if you know, for what 
cause or causes ?" "Mr. Grundy objected to the question." " Mr. Hendricks moved to 
adjourn, and the committee adjourned. Yeas — Messrs. Grundy, Hendricks, and Wood- 
bury. Nays — Messrs. Holmes and Clayton." Again: 

" February 4th. The committee met. Present — Messrs. Clayton, Grundy, Holmes, 
and Woodbury," (Hendricks absent.) "Mr. Clayton presented the following resolution, 
and asked its adoption: Resolved, That Joseph W. Hand, Solicitor of the Post Office De- 
partment, be requested to attend the committee with the book showing what balances of 
accounts have been collected, and to give information as to the actual state of the available 
funds of the Department." " Mr. Grundy objected to the resolution, and moved to amend 
it so that it should read as follows : Resolved, That the Postmaster General be requested to 
inform the committee what balances of accounts have been collected, and to give informa- 
tion as to the actual state of the available funds of the Department." "After debate, the 
amendment was lost: Grundy and Woodbury voting for it, Clayton and Holmes against it. 
The question being then taken on the resolution, »hat was lost : Clayton and Holmes voting 
for it, Grundy and Woodbury against it." 

The reader may be at a loss to appreciate the difference which Messrs. Grundy and 
Woodbury saw between calling on a clerk, or the head of the Department himself, to testify. 
I will give him the probable clue : the Solicitor, with the record in hand, could not lie ; but 
the Postmaster General had shown his tact at misrepresenting this very matter of his finan- 



46 

ces before; and, if he should not do the same thing again, the antagonising members of the 
committee had, already, full proof of his procrastination of any answer. 

Whether this course of Messrs. Grundy and Woodbury gave the tone to subsequent ex- 
ample, or was, itself, a conformity to the party mania then already prevalent, it has nev- 
ertheless been rigidly practised by the same political partisans on every committee subse- 
quently appointed for similar objects of investigation. 

2d. The defeat of the principal objects of investigation for which the committee was ap- 
pointed, by the refusal altogether or the delay of the head of the Department to answer the 
inquiries of the committee, until too late for action. 

Example. — "March 1, 1831. "No information having been yet furnished by the 
Postmaster General in reply to the interrogatories in the letters of the 24th December and 
18th January last, and the session being about to terminate on the day after to-morrow, 
the impossibility of reporting on the information when it shall be furnished was considered, 
and it seemed to be by all believed that a report, investigating the affairs of the Department, 
would be at this session impracticable." Senate Report No. 73, page 94. 

The answer, however, was afterwards received by the chairman of the committee, but 
too late for examination before adjournment. This mode of defeating the objects of inves- 
tigation was afterwards improved on by the President and heads of Departments on sundry 
occasions. But it is worthy of note here, that the fourth of the nine interrogatories pur- 
ported to be answered, is strangely evaded, in relation to the pay and emoluments of the 
Chief Clerk of the Department, which was detected by a subsequent committee, in 1834, 
as will be hereafter seen — page 52. 

3d. The entire defeat or suppression of a report or commentary of the chairman of the 
committee, to accompany the journal of their proceedings, the same being rejected by a 
party vote. 

Example. — " March 2d, 1S31. The committee met. The chairman offered a report 
to the committee, which was rejected: Messrs. Clayton and Holmes voting for it; Messrs. 
Grundy, Woodbury, and Hendricks against it. After debate the committee adjourned." 
(Senate Report, No. 73, page 95.) 

It will be seen in the sequel that minorities of committees have not been always thus gagged. 
Is not every man, who is not "possessed of the demon of party spirit," ready to say to Messrs. 
Grundy, Woodbury, and Hendricks, that the idea of throwing a cloak over the official de- 
linquencies of the public agents never could have entered the imaginations of true patriots ; 
and that their too successful efforts to suppres the inquiry for which this committee was ap- 
pointed, deserve the universal execration of the friends of popular sovereignty and a respon- 
sible Executive? But it will be seen that their embarrassing the committee^only gave the 
delinquents a temporary security ; and, while, probably from that circumstance, it added to 
the licentiousness of this and other Departments, it ultimately excited further and more 
successful efforts at investigation. 

IX. The following passages are extracted from Mr. Ewixg'j first report, made in 
behalf of the Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads, in obedience to the resolution 
of the S note of the 29<A March, 1834 ; read June 9th, 1834, and ordered to be printed. 
(See Senate Report, No. 422, 1st Session, 23d Congress.) 

** Your committee, at an early day after they were invested with authority so to do, 
"called for a statement of the available claims due from postmasters and others to the De- 
" partinent, of the funds on hand, and also the amount of its debts. In answer to this 
"inquiry, they were informed that it would be the work of several months, with all the 
"disposable force of the Department, to prepare the statement; the shortest time named 
" as possible extending much beyond the probable adjournment of Congress. Statements, 
"therefore, said to be accurate, were obtained wherever it was practicable; [in the ac- 
counting offices of the Treasury Department;] and, where such were not to be had, your 
"committee received conjectural statements, sworn to by the heads of the appropriate 
" bureaus. 

"By these, it appears that the Department is largely insolvent, and that, since some- 
" time in the year 1832, the Postmaster General did, without warrant of law, borrow from 
" the banks large sums of money, on interest, for the purpose of sustaining it. The in- 
terest account, exhibited herewith, shows that some of those loans were made during 
"the last session of Congress, and within a short time after the date of the annual re- 
,l port of the Postmaster General, ivhich states that there is an available surplus fund on 
"hand, of $202,811 40, and which contains no intimation of any probable deficit, pres- 
" ent or future. It is also worthy of remark that his last annual report is wholly silent 
"on the subject of these loans. But the Postmaster General has, since the commence- 



47 

"ment of this investigation, represented to your committee that aid from the Treasury 
" is necessary to enable him to carry on the operations of the Department ; and he has 
•* stated that /our hundred and fifty thousand dollars is the smallest sum that will serve 
" that purpose, f See Report, page \. J 

"Possessing, therefore, as this Department has done, those increased elements oj pros- 
"perity and means of usefulness, [as stated in the report,] it appeared obvious to your 
"committee that there must have been some mismanagement of its affairs, and a lavish 
" expenditure of its funds, to reduce it in so short a time to its present msolvent J ndl - 
"tion, and to render necessary the appropriation of so large a sum as four hundred and 
"fifty thousand dollars from the Treasury to enable the Postmaster General to redeem 
" its credit, and carry on its essential operations. 

" And, before determining whether they should recommend such an appropriation, your 
"committee thought it their duty to ascertain, as far as practicable, the accuracy ot the 
"several official statements which were made to them, as well as those which have from 
"time to time been transmitted to Congress touching the condition of the Department ; 
"also, that they should investigate the cause of the sudden insolvency of this important 
"department of the Government, which has heretofore sustained itself from its Own re- 
" sources, which, in former years, actually contributed $1,103,063 to the general revenue 
"of the countrv, and which was but a few years since in a most flourishing and P™ s P er - 
"ous condition. The prosecution of that inquiry was attended with much difficulty 
" and embarrassment." ( Same Report, page 5. J 

[After wading through this perplexed conglomeration of official malfeasances and trauds, 
die details of which are monstrous beyond the power of general terms to express, the com- 
mittee concluded this preliminary report as follows :] 

"On the whole, your committee have found the affairs of the Department in a state oj 
" utter derangement, resulting, as it is believed, from the uncontrolled discretion exercised 
" by its officers over its contracts and its funds ; and their habitual evasion, and, in some m- 
. "stances, their total disregard, of the laws which have been provided for their restraint. 
" And your committee see no means within the power of Congress of extricating it from us 
"present condition, and restoring it to healthy and efficient action, without providing by 
" law a more strict system for its government; prescribing to its officers more special rules 
"for the performance of their several duties; taking from them, as far as possible, all dis- 
cretion where the acceptance of contracts, or the disbursement of money, is concerned ; 
"establishing a more strict system of accountability, and enforcing an observance of the 
" laws by penal enactment. 

"Should Congress advance out of the Treasury, for the support of the Department, 
" the sum of money asked for by the Postmaster General, or even the whole amount ot its 
"debts, it is not probable, while under the management of its present officers, with no 
" other means than now exist to control and restrain them, that its debts would be liqui- 
" dated, or its efficiency restored. Under this impression and belief, your committee can- 
" not recommend the appropriation of any money to relieve the wants of the Department 
" until there be some further guarantee for its proper and judicious application. 

"Your committee, reserving the right to make a further report on these subjects here- 
after, respectfully recommend the adoption of the following resolutions: 
" I. Resolved, That it is proved and admitted that large sums of money have been bor- 
" rowed at different banks by the Postmaster General, in order to make up the deficiency 
"in the means of carrying on the business of the Post Office Department, without au- 
thority given by any law of Congress; and that, as Congress alone possesses the power 
" to borrow money on the credit of the United States, all such contracts for loans by the 
" Postmaster General are illegal and void. 

"2. Resolved, That several reports of the Postmaster General contain statements 
" which, in subsequent papers, he admits to be erroneous; that others, especially those of 
"the 18th of April, 1832, and the 3d of March, 1834, are inconsistent with each other ; 
"and that reliance cannot be placed on the truth and accuracy of the communications 
" made by the Department. 

"3. Resolved., That it is fully proved that a practice prevails in the Post Office De- 
<« partment of granting contracts on bids which vary from the advertisement, and of chang- 
ing and altering contracts in material respects after they have been accepted; and that 
"this practice prevents all fair competition among persons wishing to make contracts, is 
«« calculated to give undue advantage to favorites, and is in violation of law. 

" 4. Resolved, That it appears that an individual who made a contract for the trans- 
portation of the mail was required to give it up for no other reason than that it might 



48 

"be given to another desirous of having it; and that the act of the Department in requi- 
ring such surrender, and in effecting the transfer, was illegal and unjust. 

"5. Resolved, That it appears that proposals for carrying the mail on the route from 
" Chicago to Green Bay were withheld from advertisement ,- that the contract, therefor, 
•'was given in another's name, but really to one of the clerks in the Department; that the 
"compensation proposed in the bid was raised without any increase of service, and that 
"the transaction is a direct breach of law. 

" 6. Resolved, That extra allowances have been granted to contractors without any in- 
" crease of duty or service on their part; and that, in other cases, extra allowances have 
"been made which are unreasonable, extravagant, and out of all proportion with the 
" increase of service. 

" 7. Resolved, That the Postmaster General has established steamboat lines for the 
"transportation of the mail, by private contract, at an enormous expense, and without 
" authority of law. 

"8. Resolved, That the public credit has been pledged for the benefit of individual 
"contractors ; and that contractors have been solicited and induced to aid, with their per- 
gonal credit, the business of the Department; and that all such transactions are unjus- 
" tifiable and improper. 

"9. Resolved, That it does appear that mail lines have been established to run more 
"frequently than once a day, and at a very heavy expense, when no adequate public ob- 
"ject required such a provision. 

" 10. Resolved, That pecuniary transactions of a very irregular nature are proved to 
" have taken place between the contractors and some of the chief officers of the Post Office 
" Department. 

"11. Resolved, That the Post Office Department is now deeply in debt; its affairs in 
" disorder; its accounts and reports irregular and unsatisfactory ; that it is justly the sub- 
" ject of public complaint, and demands a radical reform. 

"12. Resolved, That the incidental expenses and secret service money of the Depart- 
" ment have increased, are increasing, and ought to be diminished. 

" 13. Resolved, That it doss appear that an agreement was entered into between two 
" companies of miil contractors, the express object of which was to put down all opposi- 
" tion lines of coaches, and all competition in the transportation of passengers on their 
" respective mail routes. That said agreement was drawn by an officer of the Depart- 
" ment, and entered into at his pressing instance, and that it was sanctioned by the Post- 
" master General; and that such agreement, so sanctioned, is an interference with the 
" honest pursuits of the free citizens of these United States; that it tends to establish an 
" odious and oppressive monopoly, and is an unjust invasion of private rights. 

" 14. Resolved, That it does appear that mail contractors have received large extra al- 
" lowances, and have at the time of receiving such allowance become the proprietors of 
" newspaper presses of a partisan character. It also appears that a newspaper editor in 
" the State of New Hampshire is a contractor for carrying the mail on numerous routes, 
" 'with newspaper privileges ,-' and that every such act or artifice tending to unite the 
" Press with the Post Office Department is a dangerous abuse, and ought to be corrected." 

X. The aforesaid committee of the Senate continued their investignation of the affairs 
of the Post Office Department during the recess, and at the next session of Congress made 
a second and final report; of the luminous exposition of which, the following extracts will 
afford the reader some evidence, under three general heads, viz : 

Finance of the Department — imperfect and confused state of the books — available 
fund on hand when the Department passed from McLean to Barry — its speedy bank- 
ruptcy in 1832. 

" One of the principal difficulties which had been encountered in the investigation 
" during the last session of Congress, was that of arriving, even by approximation, 
" at the state of the finances of the Department. It was a subject on which the 
" opinions of different members of your committee were widely variant, and they could 
" determine nothing with certainty from a mere inspection of the books, or a footing of 
" the accounts. Many very large and important items were merely made the subject of a 
" marginal note, and that often in pencil-mark. On the whole, the accounts were in a 
" state of great uncertainty and confusion, and so extensive and complicated the transac- 
" tions which they embraced, that it was deemed wholly impracticable for your committee, 
" by their own personal labor, to balance the books, and arrive at any result at all ap- 
" proaching to accuracy. It was the more difficult, as the ordinary books of entry do not 
" appear to contain the materials for a full and fair adjustment of the accounts which they 
" purport to exhibit: as for example," &c. Report No. 86, page 1. * 



49 

"In their comparative view of the revenue and expenditures of the Department, for the 
" next four years preceding, and the four years next following, the time at which it was 
" placed under the superintendence of the present Postmaster General, your committee 
" noticed the difference between the statements of Mr. McLean, the late Postmaster Gen- 
" eral, and the present incumbent, as to the amount of available funds on 'hand on the 1st 
" July, 1829.' 

"The amount of surplus funds left on hand, according to the statement of Mr. McLean, 
" was $289,140 17. The amount, as stated by Mr. Barry, was §230,489." 

[But according to the statement, on oalh, of the Solicitor of the Post Office Depart- 
ment, (Mr. Hand,) examined by the committee, " the whole amount of debts due, and 
cash on hand, at that date, (1st July, 1829,) leaves $377,492 which were available, or 
have since been made available by collections." See Report, page 4.] 

"Your committee, in the course of the investigation during the last session of Con- 
" gress, were informed that money had been raised for the use of the Department upon 
" the credit of some of the principal contractors ,• and on the examination of James Rce- 
" side, they inquired of him whether he had 'at anytime or times drawn a draft or drafts 
" for the purpose of raising money for the Department.' In answer to this inquiry he 
" says ; ' I did in two instances. About two years ago, in consequence of a letter received 
" from the Department, stating in substance that they were in want of money in this 
" city, or Philadelphia, I drew a draft for six thousand dollars, which was negotiated at 
" the Western Bank of Philadelphia. The draft was drawn on the Department at a short 
" date, and paid at maturity. The other case was sometime last winter. T arranged ten 
" thousand dollars through Mr. Bates, the assistant postmaster at New York, by drawing 
" drafts on the Department at the request of the Department. I presume they have 
" been paid, as I have heard nothing from them since.' [The report speaks of another 
" draft of Reeside, for $20,000, April 10, 1833, for the use of the Department— see page 
" 85.] But he says nothing of this draft of §20,000. His deposition was taken on the 
" 21st May, 1834, and this money was raised for the Department on the 30th April pre- 
" vious. " See Report, page 86. 

" Aother credit of Reeside (on the books of the Western Bank of Philadelphia) 
" attracted the attention of the committee. It is entered under date of October 11, 1833, 
"and is as follows: 'Cash deposited in Western Bank, Philadelphia, §6,000.' And 
" your committee found by the statement furnished them by this bank, that this sum was 
" also raised on a draft drawn by Reeside, and accepted by C. K. Gardener, Assistant 
" Postmaster General, and paid at maturity by the Department. Your committee not 
" finding any corresponding charge to Reeside on the books, called before them C. K. 
" Gardener, Assistant Postmaater General, and pointed out to him this credit, and asked 
" him for a corresponding charge, and an explanation of the transaction. His statement 
" in reply to this inquiry shows a state of things and a course of business, existing in 
" this office, of which, until recently, we have had no knowledge. His evidence on that 
" point is as follows : 

" I think I can explain it. Mr. Suter [then pay-agent of the Department] wrote to Mr. 
" Reeside to make his draft and deposite the amount of §6,000, to the credit of the Depart- 
" ment, in the Western Bank of Philadelphia, to enable the Department to meet its checks 
" drawn and to be drawn on that bank. This mode of raising the money, or of sup- 
" plying the deficiencies of the Department, was suggested by the Postmaster General, 
" and some discussion was had on the subject, but we concluded to avoid that mode of 
" supplying the Department in future, [was it not on this account that recourse was had 
" about this time to Mr. Gouvemieur, postmaster at New York?] apprehending the impro- 
" priety of being dependent on the credit of contractors to supply the wants of the De- 
" partment; and we avoided it until the deficiencies of the Department, in December, 1832, 
" rendered it necessary to make the first loan of the Manhattan Company for§50,000." — 
-See Heport, pages 86, 87. 

Improved Bids and Extra Allowances — The frauds and fovoritisms they cover — 
are violations of law, and revolting to reason. 

" A practice has of late prevailed extensively in this Department of advertising proposals 
" for carrying the mail on the principal mail routs in a different manner from that in which 
" it is in fact to be carried ; of receiving bids for carrying it in a different manner from 
" that which is advertised, which are called ' improved bids ,-' of accepting the bids as 
" made all together, and entering their acceptance as applied to that part of the bid which 
" conforms to the advertisement, and immediately changing them to the ' improved bid,' 
" and so executing the contract; thus, in effect, letting or making the contract without 



50 

" advertisement. This is a violation of law, and has given rise to, and is made the apol- 
" ogy /or other violations of law and official duty. Any original contract entered into 
" for the. transportation of the mail, which is not in pursuance of an advertisement, 
" special and distinct in its terms, 'describing the places from and/o which the mail is to he 
" conveyed, and the time at which it is to be made up, and the day and hour at which 
" it is to be delivered,' is not a contract made in conformity with the law ; but is a viola- 
" tion of one of its most important provisions. 

" This practice of entering contracts without the observance of this provision of the 
" law [entitled an act to reduce into one the several acts establishing the Post Office De- 
" partment] throws the door wide open to unfairness, favoritism, and collusion. The 
" public know nothing of the purposes or the wishes of the Department as to the time and 
" manner of transporting the mail, except through the medium of the public advertisement ; 
" and the honest business-man, who would wish to seek, a contract through fair competi- 
" tion, would naturally suppose that a bid pursuant to the advertisement would be the one 
" and the only one by which he could procure such a contract; and he would further sup- 
" pose that he would be bound by such bid. With the public at large this probably has 
" been the case ; it appears to have been so with the small contractors generally ; but it 
" has been fur otherwise with a class of large contrators, who appear to be on terms of 
" intimacy and confidence with some of the officers of the General Post Office, and whose 
" affairs are intimately blended with the fiscal concerns of that Department. For example, 
" in looking over the bids for the fall of 1831, it will be found that such individuals who 
" obtained contracts upon the great mail routes, or a great number of the small routes 
" united, included in their bids not only a proposition to carry the mail according to the 
" advertisement, but with stipulations that the bidder would bind himself to carry the 
" mail in a different manner at a different price. Of the favored contractors, the bids to 
" carry the mail pursuant to the advertisement are generally very low, so as to enable the 
"Department to award them the contract; while their .improved bid, in pursuance of 
" which the contract is at last executed, is very high, so as to insure to the contractor an 
" enormous profit. The acceptance is marked on the proposal book opposite the sum 
" which was bid for conveying the mail pursuant to the advertisement; and the rival bid- 
" ders will see at once on an inspection of this book that they are under-bid, but [the 
" ends of this fallacy being thus subserved] the contracts are executed according to the im- 
" proved bid, which is often twice or three times the sum at which it is entered on the pro- 
" posal book laid open to the inspection of the public. 

" For example, at the lettings in 183i, James Reeside bid to carry the mail from Phila- 
" delphia to New York, pursuant to advertisement, (daily) at $0,000 a year, or at 
" $1 9,000 improved. The bid was entered ' accepted' at $6,000, and the contract execu- 
" ted at $19,000," &c. &c. — E wing' 8 report, pages 12, 13. [In illustration of this class 
of frauds, an enumeration of cases is given in the report, demonstrating an utter prostra- 
tion of the moral sense in all the high contracting parties.] 

Rkmovals of Postmastkhs — without regard to their merit, or the injury inflicted 
upon the public service — and, their successors appointed to subserve party purposes, 
equally regardless of their fitness for the official trust. 

" It appears by a letter from the Postmaster General to the chairman of your committee, 
<€ in answer to a resolution of the 29th of September, 1834, there had been thirteen hundred 
" and forty postmasters removed from office. Public opinion ascribes those removals, with 
" few exceptions, to motives of parly policy. This subject seemed to your committee to 
" require investigation, and they thought, and still think that it fell within the scope of 
" the authority conferred on them by the resolutions under which they acted ; and that it 
" was one of those subjects into which the Senate, as a branch of the legislative power, 
" had a right to direct an investigation. If, indeed, the extensive patronage of this De- 
" partment were so wielded as to influence, as far as possible, the political actions of men; 
" if its numerous offices were made a subject of sale and barter for party influence and 
" political power; if it were a part of the established system that honest men and faithful 
" officers should be removed from office, for no other reason than that they had ventured 
" to be freemen, and exercise the rights of freemen and American citizens at the polls; 
" and that their places should be filled by men having no other qualifications than those of 
" efficient partisans and supporters of the men in power, it was of the first importance 
«« that the nature and extent of the mischief should be known to the legislature and the 
" people of the country; and that a remedy should be applied by law to check, and, if 
" possible, eradiate the evil. 

" It was represented to the members of your committee, from sources entitled to con- 



51 

11 suleration, that there were many cases in which those things had been done. That 
" deputy postmasters, upright and honorable men and faithful officers, had been removed 
" for no other known cause than that of their political opinions; and that there had been 
" appointed in their stead active political partisans, notoriously deficient in talent, and 
" destitute of integrity; and who, since their appointment, had appropriated the whole 
" proceeds of their offices to themselves — first neglecting to account, and at last absconding 
" with the funds ; and that in some instances the officers in the Department hadneglected 
" to prosecute until their sureties were fully discharged by lapse of time." .' ! — (Ewing's 
Report, page 86.) [A number of cases in illustration cited.] 

XL The corrupt and foul condition of the Post Offkc Department had become so notori- 
ous and alarming that, shortly after the first report of the Senate's committee and while that 
committee was still engaged in prosecuting its laborious investigations, above quoted, a 
select committee of the House of Representatives was also appointed under a resolution of 
the 26th June, 1834, (the last day of the session,) "to examine the condition and pro- 
ceedings of the Post Office Department." So that during the recess the Post Office De- 
partment was subjected to the searching operations of two investigating committees of the 
twenty-third Congress. 

The result of the investigation made by the committee of the House may be stated, in 
general terms, as being confirmatory of those made by the Senate's committee ; with only 
a slight difference, that is, in the degree of minuteness with which the report of the minor- 
ity of the House committee makes some of its developments. Among these, I will simply 
advert to two or three, viz : 

1st. The frivolous if not disingenuous distinction set up by the Postmaster General be- 
tween the authority of the Senate and the House of Representatives to inquire into the 
removals of postmasters, the call for information on which matters he had refused to the 
Senate's committee, towards the majority of whom he had hostile party feeling, and of 
course jealous apprehensions, while the propitiatory party feelings of the majority of the 
House committee, to whom he communicated the information, might use it apologetically, 
or suppress it altogether, as they did. 

2d. His contumacious refusal or neglect to make any answer whatever to other calls for 
information in relation to the records showing the condition of the finance of the Depart- 
ment. 

3d. That the adjustment of the accounts of the Post Office Department was nearly six 
years in arrear at the Treasury Department, and therefore of little or no avail as a check 
on the Post Office. 

4th. Of the co-partnerships of the chief clerk, in violation of law, with mail contract- 
ors for transporting the mail; and, 

5th. The extra annual compensation of the chief clerk, making his salary $2,200 a 
year instead of §1,700, as fixed by law. 

An extract from the report of the House committee (Doc. No. 103, p. 65) will further 
show the low ebb to which the moral principle of high officers of the Department had sunk 
as early as 1830, which the select committee of the Senate, then appointed, failed (as has 
been and will again be presently seen) to detect ; and which remained so concealed until 
the select committee of the House, in 1834, ferreted it out. I make this extract in full, as 
subjoined, because it serves, in part, to show how early the lesson was inculcated and 
practised with success, to evade the inquiries of investigating committees ; which evasions 
afterwards actually put on the haughty air of defiance, by the heads of Departments assum- 
ing to be exempt from inquiry in certain cases, under the pleas— first, that they constitute 
an independent co-ordinate department— and, second, that for impeachable offences they 
are not bound to convict themselves. The first of which has not even the merit of being 
a. plausible fallacy, and the latter has only the merit of recommending its benefits to the 
guilty of conscience, but of which no honest man could have occasion to avail himself. 

«' In a Government where all power emanates from the people; where all the officers 
" and agents are appointed directly or indirectly by them, and are paid from their Treasury, 
" it is their undoubted right to know who their agents are, what services they perform, 
" and what compensation is paid to them. To disseminate this information, a joint reso- 
" lution was passed by Congress, and approved by the President on the 27th of April, 
" 1816, the first section of which is as follows: 

" Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States cf America in Congress 
" assembled, That mice in two years a register, containing a correct list of all the officers and agents, civil, 
" military, and naval, in the service of the United Slates, made up to the last day of September of each 
" year, in which a new Congress is to assemble, be compiled and printed, under the direction of the becre- 
" tary for the Department of State ; and, to enable him to lorm such register, he, for his own Department, 



52 

" and the heads of the other Departments, respectively, shall in due time cause such lists as aforesaid, of all 
" officers and agents in their respective Departments, including clerks, cadets, and midshipmen, to be made 
" and lodged in the Department of State; and the said lists shall exhibit the amount of compensation, pay, and 
" emoluments, allowed to such officer, agent, clerk, cadet, midshipman, the State and country where he 
" was born, and where employed." 

" No chatsge of party has affected this resolution ; nor has its repeal been attempted; 

" but it remains as obligatory and binding as when it was approved. Its provisions were 

" enlarged on the 14th of July, 1832, to embrace printers and mail contractors, with the 

" compensation paid to each. 

" On the 15th of December, 1830, a resolution passed the Senate of the United States 
" to appoint a committee 'to examine and report the present condition of the Post Office 
" Department, and in what manner the laws regulating the Department are administered; 
" the distribution of labor, the number of clerks, and the duties assigned to each; the 
" number of agents, when and how employed; the compensation of contractors; and, 
" generally, the entire management of the Department; and whether further, and what, 
" legal provisions are necessary to secure the proper administration of its affairs.' 

" A select committee, under this resolution, was appointed, consisting of Mr. Clayton, 
" Mr. Grundy, Mr. Hendricks, Mr. Holmes, and Mr. Woodbury. 

" On the 24th of December, 1830, Mr. Clayton, as chairman of the committee, and by 
" its unanimous direction, addressed a letter to the Postmaster General, requesting infor- 
" mation on different subjects, arranged under nine heads. The fourth was as follows : 
" '4th. The number of clerks employed by the Department, their duties, their respective 
" salaries, and out of what fund those salaries are paid ; whether in any, and if so, in 
" what cases, their salaries are not arranged according to law; whether any extra allow- 
" ance has been made by you to the chief clerk in your Department, and for what cause ; 
" and if any such extra allowance has been made, by what authority it has been paid, and 
" out of what fund.' 

" In answer to so much of this inquiry as relates to an extra allowance to the chief 
" clerk, Mr. Barry responded as follows : ' My chief clerk has not received any additional 
" compensation for his services as such ; but from October 1 to November 15, 1829, there 
" was a vacancy in the office of one of the assistants, during which time, amounting to 
" forty-six days, he was acting assistant, and performed the duties of that office, and for 
" that period, and that period only, he received the compensation prescribed by law for 
" the same.' 

" This answer, to those unskilled in the dexterous use of language, put to silence a 
" rumor that had existed, that the chief clerk did receive a compensation in addition to 
" his stated salary ; but for what services, and to what amount, was not known, except to 
*' those whose official situations enabled them to have information on the subject. 

" Mr. Barry, in the same report, states that ' Obadiah B. Brown was his chief clerk, 
" at a salary of $1,700 per annum.' 

" The examination of the last Biennial Register, published in 1833, was made without 
" finding that any other sum than his stated salary had been paid to him for any services 
" whatever. 

" The names of the messengers, watchmen, and agents, are given, with their compen- 
" sations, but no mention is made of such an agent, or officer, as superintendent of the 
" Post Office buildings. 

" By a standing order of the House of Representatives of the United States, passed on 
" the 30th December, 1791, the Treasury Department is directed to report, at each session 
" of Congress, the receipts and expenditures for the preceding year. 

" The report having been renewed that Mr. Brown was in the receipt of a sum of 
" money for official duties, exceeding the amount of his stated salary, the account of the 
" receipts and expenditures for the year 1S33 was examined. 

" The two following items are found : 
" ' Contingent expenses of the Postmaster General. Obadiah B. Brown, agent $7,500 
" « Superintending the building of the Post Office Department, making up blanks, 
and compensation to two watchmen and one laborer. Obadiah B. Brown, 

agent - - - - - - ""','..". , ' 600 ' 

" Although this last item bore a close resemblance to a ' combined bid, with improve- 
" ments,' it was supposed that Mr. Brown was merely the disbursing agent, as in the case 
" of the contingent fund, but it was not suspected that he was the superintendent, to whom 
" he, as agent, paid himself any part of the money mentioned. - 

" For the purpose of ascertaining whether Mr. Brown was in the receipt of any money 
" for his services in or about the Post Office Department, except for his services of chief 
" clerk, the following question was propounded to him on the 29th of January : 



53 

" 'Have you received, or have you been credited on the books of the Post Office De- 
" partment, with any sum or sums of money, since you have been chief clerk; or have 
,c you been paid any sum or sums of money, for an}' services, or superintendence of anv 
" thing or matter relating to the General Post Office Department, except your stated salary 
" of one thousand seven hundred dollars, and, if so, state for what services, and in what 
" amount.' 

" To this inquiry he gave the following answer : 

" 'I have not been credited on the books of the Department, nor have I received any 
" sum for my services beyond my salary of seventeen hundred dollars a year, except $500 
" a year for superintending the Post Office buildings and premises of the Department.' 

" The fact is, therefore, now disclosed, that Mr. Brown received $2,200 a year, instead 
" of $1,700, as the Postmaster General has reported from year to year ; and contrary to 
" the fair and common construction of his answer to the question propounded to him bv 
" the committee of the Senate. The resolution of Congress has been disregarded, in not. 
" reporting this agency for the Biennial Register, and the compensation paid for it. His 
" accounts have been presented to the Treasury Department so worded as to suppress the 
" name of the superintendent, and the compensation paid to him ; and an answer has 
" been given to a committee of the Senate, which evades the inquiry, if it does not sup- 
" press the truth. "—(See Minority Report, No. 103, pp. 65, 66, 67.) 

XII. I shall now invite the attention of the reader for a few moments, to the subjects of 
investigation of the Senate's Committee on Public Lands. 

In the Senate of the United States, on the 15th December, 1834, the depositions taken 
during the recess by authority of the Committee on Public Lands, under resolutions 
adopted March 3, 1834, were ordered to be printed. These depositions, of nearly one 
hundred respectable WITNESSES, circumstantially establish the affirmation of all the 
official neglects, malpractices, and frauds, designated for inquiry by those resolutions. 
Without attempting to give an abstract of those depositions, which are too voluminous, I 
subjoin the, resolutions themselves, as giving the best general idea of the specifications of 
official delinquencies clearly proved by the deponents; viz: 

"In Senate of the United States, March 3, 1834. 

" 1. Resolved, That the Committee on the Public Lands be instructed to inquire into 
" the circumstances attending the recent sales of the public lands in the" States of Missis- 
sippi and Alabama; and whether the proclamations of the President of the United 
" States, causing the public lands in the districts of country acquired from the Choctaw 
" tribe of Indians by the treaty of Dancing Rabbit creek, and from the Creek tribe of In- 
" dians in Alabama, to be offered at public sale, were issued and promulgated a reasonable 
" length of time prior to the day on e?hich said sales were directed to be commenced in 
" each of said districts, to give proper notice to the people of the United States of the 
" days appointed for said sales: also, into the causes why the usual public notice was not 
" (riyen. 

"2. Resolved, That the same committee inquire whether any fraudulent practices, to 
" the injury of the public interests, took place at said sales by reason of combinations of 
" companies or individuals interdicting, or unfavorable to, a fair competition between bid- 
" ders for public lands offered for sale in said districts; and, if so, whether the officers 
" superintending said sales had knowledge of, or particpatcd in, such fraudulent practices 
" or combinations. 

"3. Resolved, That the said committee be instructed to inquire whether the registers 
" of the land offices, and the receivers of public moneys, at any of the land offices of 
" the United States, or either of them, have, in violation of law and of their official 
" duties, demanded or accepted a bonus or premium from any purchaser or purchasers of 
" the public lands, at public or private sale, for the benefit of such officer or officers, as a 
*' condition on which such purchaser or purchasers should be allowed to enter or purchase 
'* any tract or tracts of land offered for sale by the United States ; and, also, whether any 
" register or receiver, as aforesaid, has been guilty of fraud or partiality in the sales 
" of the public lands, by adopting rules or regulations in their respective offices, incon- 
" sistent with the laws of the United States. 

"4. Resolved, That the said committee inquire whether the public lands at any land 
" office in the United States have beon sold otherwise than for cash ; and whether any 
" register or receiver in said State has, at any time, taken in payment the promissory 
" note of anv purchaser or purchasers bearing an interest to accrue to the benefit of such 
" register or receiver. 

"5. Resolved, That, in prosecution of said inquiries, the said committee have power 



54 

" to send for persons and papers, to take depositions, and to examine witnesses before 
" them, on oath, touching the matters aforesaid." 

It will appear somewhat extraordinary, that the defalcations of the hf.ceitf.rs of 
the public moneys in the land offices, which had already become so considerable in 1834, 
were overlooked, or possibly not even suspected, by the Senate, when ordering the above 
investigations. But by the indefatigable vigilance of many patriotic members of Con- 
gress, these defalcations have been since brought to light, together with those of collect- 
ors of the customs, siarshals, district attorneys, &c, all of which, taken in the 
aggregate, or in detail, make a frightful exhibition of the degraded state of the morals of 
Government sub -treasurers, as we shall see from a summary in the sequel. 

XIII. The partiotic motto, " Never to despair of the republic," seems ever to have an : - 
mated that small band in both Houses of Congress, notwithstanding the unequal odds of 
Executive influence they had to contend with. Accordingly, when, on the eve of General 
Jackson's last term, the imperfect efforts (already sketched) to make investigations, having 
only served to perfect the friends or apologists of misrule in the arts of evasion, and to 
increase the Executive defiance, the President took occasion, in the very teeth of the many 
facts exhibited by those investigations, to give his certificate, in his message to Congress, 
"to bear testimony of the prosperous condition of the various Executive Departments, 
and to the ability and integrity with which they had been conducted;" declaring that "it 
had been his aim to enforce in all of them a vigilant and faithful discharge of the public 
business;" adding, " and it is gratifying to me to believe that there is no just cause of 
complaint, from any quarter, at the manner in which they have fulfilled the object of 
their crf.atiok." Yet did that unterrified band in the House of Representatives rally 
upon the issue courted by this throw of the gauntlet, manfully supporting, and supported 
by, that intrepid, that vigilant statesman, H. A. Wise, march to the unequal contest in 
the arena of a packed committee of a large majority of the friends of Executive misrule. 

Fully to comprehend this manoeuvre of the Jacksonian tactics misapplied, and shorn 
of its tenors before true patriots, the reader should bear in mind the military adroitness 
with which General Jackson had, on a former occasion, entrenched himself behind the 
veto power, which proved as formidable against the friends and defenders of the Constitu- 
tion as the entrenchment of the cotten bags had done, in a more glorious cause, against a 
national foe. Having removed the deposites by a lawless assumption of power during the 
recess of Congress, the National Legislature could not restore them to their former safe- 
keeping except by such a majority of both Houses as would be competent to break down 
the misused barriers of the veto. And now, on the eve of his administration, having every 
reason to expect, from matters and things of general notoriety, that a reckoning of his 
stewardship would be sought for, in some manner, by the advocates of Executive account- 
ability in Congress, whether by select committees or otherwise, he, in order to gain the 
vantage ground in such anticipated issue, which he could not better accomplish than by 
having recourse to his former tactics, assumed this strong position of immaculacy for him- 
self and his departments beforehand, so that he might denounce and foil any subsequent 
movement of Congress, as an issue made direct with the President, impugning his vera- 
city and integrity, and calling upon him and his departments to convict thumselves in im- 
peachable offences, in which they would not be compelled to testify against themselves. 

The reader will now probably better comprehend the following imperfect extracts from 
the able and eloquent report of the chairman of the select committee to whom the forego- 
ing extract from the President's message, challenging this issue, was referred. — See House 
Document No. 19-1, 'id Session, 24//* Congress, page 24, viz : 

"The undersigned, of the committee to which was referred 'so much of the President's 
message as relates to the condition of the various Executive Departments,' &c, begs leave 
to show the reasons for dissenting from the majority. 

"The resolution of the House of Representatives, under which this committee was ap- 
pointed, was passed on the 17th day of January. On the 20th of that month, the chair- 
man, who was serving during the session of the House on another committee of investiga- 
tion, was notified by the Clerk of the House of the appointment of this committee, after 
his calling at the Clerk's office and requesting to be furniohed with a copy of the resolution, 
and of the list of the committee. 

"On the 21st day of January the committee was organized, and proceeded to its labors. 
The resolution, it was thought, embraced every species of legitimate inquiry, in the fullest 
extent, into the condition of the various Executive Departments, the ability and integrity 
with which they have been conducted, into the manner in which the public business has been 
discharged in all of them, and into all causes of complaint, from any quarter, at the man- 



55 

ner in which the departments, or their bureaus and offices, or any of their officers or agents 
of every description whatever, directly or indirectly connected with them in any manner, 
officially or unofficially, in duties pertaining to the public interest, have fulfilled or failed to 
accomplish the objects of their creation, or have violated their duties, or have injured and 
impaired the public service and interest. The scope of inquiry was vast and unlimited ; 
the time in which to institute and accomplish investigation was very short and insufficient. 
The call for this investigation had in fact been made early during the past session of Con- 
gress, and was not granted until within six weeks of the close of this. Many subjects, 
therefore of the highest importance, which required the strictest scrutiny and the longest 
time, the testimony as to which was to be obtained from the greatest distance of the ex- 
tremes of the Union, could not be touched in the short period left for the execution of the 
task of this committee. There were many subjects, however, of deep interest, the evidence 
as to which was known to be near at hand, which could be inquired into; and, accordingly, 
several of these were proposed to be examined. 

"Among these, the first in importance and the first proposed to be examined, were the 
subjects of Executive patronage to the public press, of Executive appointments to office, of 
the application of contingent items of appropriation, of irregular expenditures, allowances, 
and payments, and of sinecures. Accordingly, at the first meeting, four distinct resolu- 
tions were offered on these subjects, respectively." 

[Omitting here the report of the resolutions and amendments, I continue the extract at 
page 28.] 

" After these and various other amendments, and after adopting an additional or fifth 
resolution, by a vote of 6 to 2, which was regarded at the time by some of the committee 
as intended to give the departments an opportunity, and to call on them for a labored de- 
fence of the errors, if any, of their administration, the resolutions, as amended, were adop- 
ted, and ordered to be communicated according to their tenor. 

"These five resolutions were adopted on Monday, the 23d of January. On Tuesday, 
the 24th of January, the chairman of the committee addressed to the President the follow- 
ing letter, and resolutions enclosed therein: 

" ' Washington, January 24, 1837. 

" ' Sir : I am ordered by the Select Committee of the House of Representatives, appoin- 
ted to inquire into the condition of the various Executive Departments, &c, to communi- 
cate to you the enclosed resolutions. 

'"Respectfully, &c. HENRY A. WISE, Chairman. 

" 'To Aniibew Jackson, 

" ' President of ike United States.'' 

•'On Friday, the 27th of January, the chairman of the committee was called upon by 
Mr. Mann to testify as a witness, and the following question was propounded to him, to 
wit: 

" 'Do you, of your own knowledge, know of any act, by either of the heads of the Ex- 
ecutive Departments, which is either corrupt or a violation of their official duties 1' 

"Another member of the House, also, the honorable John Bell, had been called on as a 
witness before the committee. 

"The chairman was proceeding to answer, when the private secretary of the President 
entered the committee-room and presented a letter signed by the President, as follows: 

" ' Washington City, January 26, 1840.- 
" ' Sir : I received, on the evening of the 24th instant, your letter, covering a copy of certain resolutions 
purporting to have been adopted by a committee of the House of Representatives, of which you are chairman, 
and request that you will lay before that committee this, my reply, which I hasten to make. 

" ' It appears, by the published proceedings of the House of Representatives, that the committee of which 
you are chairman was appointed on your motion. The resolution offered by you, and finally adopted by the 
House, raised a direct issue with that part of my annual message in which I held the following language: 
' Before concluding this paper, I think it due to the various Executive Departments to bear testimony of their 
prosperous condition, and to the ability and integrity with which they have been conducted. It has been 
my aim to enforce, in all of them, a vigilant and faithful discharge of the public business ; and it is grasify- 
ing to me to believe that there is no just cause of complaint, from any quarter, at the manner in which they 
have fulfilled the object of their creation.' Your resolution is in the following words : ' Resolved, That so 
much of the President's message as relates to the ' condition of the various Executive Departments, the abili- 
ty and integrity with which they have been conducted, the vigilant and faithful discharge of the public busi- 
ness in all of them, and the causes of complaint, from any qurater, at the manner in which they have fulfil- 
led the objects of their creation,' be referred to a select committee, to consist of nine members, with power to 
send for persons and papers, and with instructions to inquire into the condition of the various Executive De- 
partments, the ability and integrity with which they have been conducted, into the manner in which the 
public business has been discharged in all of them, and into all causes of complaint, Irom any quarter, at the 
manner in which said departments, or their bureaus or offices, or any of their officers or agents, of every de- 
scription whatever, directly or indirectly connected with them in any manner, officially or unofficially, in 
duties pertaining to the public interest, have fulfilled or failed to accomplish the objects of their creation, or 
have violated their duties, or have injured and impaired the public service and interest ; and that said com- 



56 

tnittee, in its inquiries, may refer to such periods of time as to them may seem expedient and proper.' It also 
appears from the published proceedings of the House, that this resolution was accompanied and supported 
by a speech of considerable length, in which you preferred many severe but vague charges of corruption and 
abuse in the Executive Departments. The resolutions adopted by the committee, as well as that adopted by 
the House itself, must be taken in connexion with your introductory speech, which gives a character to 
the whole proceeding. When thus regarded, it is obvious that, by the resolution of the House, an issue is 
made with the President of the United States; as he had alleged, in his annual message, that the heads of the 
Executive Departments had performed their official duties with ability and integrity. In your speech you 
denied this ; you charged them with manifold corruptions and abuses of trust, as you had done in former 
speeches, to which you referred; and you demanded an investigation through the medium of a committee. 
Certain other members of Congress, as appears by the published debates, united with you in these accusa- 
tions; and, for the purpose of ascertaining their truth or falsehood, the committee you demanded was ordered 
to be raised, and you were placed at its head. The first proceeding of the investigating committee is to pass 
a series of resolutions, which, though amended in their passage, were, as understood, introduced by, you, call- 
ing on the President and the heads of the departments— not to answer to any specific charge ; not to explain 
any alleeed abuse ; not to give information as to any particular transaction ; but, assuming that they have 
been guilty of the charges alleged, calls upon them to furnish evidence against themselves ! 

" After the reiterated charges you have made, it was to have been expected that you would have been pre- 
pared to reduce them to specifications, and that the committee would then proceed to investigate the matters 
alleged. But, instead of this, you resort to generalities even more vague than your original accusations; 
and. in open violation of the constitution, and of that well-established'and wise maxim, ' that all men are 
presumed to be innocent until proven guilty, according to the established rules of law,' you request myself 
and the heads of the departments to become'our own accusers, and to furnish the evidence to convict our- 
selves ; and this call purports to be founded on the authority of that body in which alone, by the constitution, 
the power of impeachins us is vested ! The heat's of departments may answer such a request as they please, 
provided they do not withdraw their own time, and that of the officers under their direction, from the public 
business, to the injury thereof. To that business I shall direct them to devote themselves, in preference to 
any illegal and unconstitutional call for informotion, no matter from what source it may come, or however 
anxious'they may be to meet it. For myself, I shall repel all such attempts as an invasion of the principles 
of justice, as well as of the constitution ; and I shall esteem it my sacred duty to the people of the United 
States to resist them as I would lh° establishment of a Spanish inquisition. 

" If, after all the severe accusations contained in the various speeches of yourself and your associates, you 
?tre unwilline, of your own accord, to bring specific charges, then I request your committee to call yourself 
and your associates, and every other member of Congress who has made the general charge of corruption, to 
testify before God and our country, whether you or they know of any specific corruption or abuse of trust in 
the Executive Departments ; and, if so, what it is. If you are able to point to any case where there is the 
slightest reason to suspect corruption or abuse of trust, no obstacle which I can remove shall be interposed 
to prevent the fullest scrutiny by all legal means. The offices of all the departments will be opened to you, 
and every proper facility furnished lor this purpose. 

" I hope, sir, we shall at last have your charges, and that you will proceed to investieate them, not like an 
inquisitor, but in the accustomed mode. If you either will not make specific accusations, or if, when made, 
you attempt to establish them by making freemen their own accusers, you will not expect me to countenance 
your proceedings. In the short period which remains of my official duty, I shall endeavor, as I have here- 
tofore endeavored, to fulfil the obligations of that oath of office by which I engaged, ' to the best of my ability, 
to preserve, protect, and defend the constitution of the United States ;' and for this, and other reasons of the 
most solemn character, I shall, on the one hand, cause every possiUe facility, consistent witli law and jus- 
lice, to be given to investigation of specific, tangible charges ; and, on the other, shall repudiate all attempts 
to invade the just rishts of the Executive Departments, and of the individuals composing the same. If, after 
all your clamor, you" will make no specific charges, or bring no proof of such as shall be made, you and your 
associates must be regarded by the good people of the United States as the authors of unfounded calumnies , 
.and the public servants whom you have assailed, will, in the estimation of all honorable men, stand fully 
acquitted. 

" In the mean time, I cannot but express my astonishment that members of Congress should call for infor- 
mation as to the names of persons to whom contingent moneys are paid, and the objects of those payments, 
when there are six standing committees, under the seventy-seventh rule of the House of Representatives, 
whose special duties are to' examine annually into all the details of those expenditures in each of the Exec- 
utive Departments. The like remark is applicable to some other branches of the information sought by you, 
ample details in respect to which are to be found in the reports laid before congress, and now on your files ; 
and to which I recommend you to have recourse. 

"I am respectfully, &c, ANDREW JACKSON. 

" To the Hon. Henry A. Wise, Chairman of the Investigating Committee 

on the abuses and frauds of the Executive Departments — charged .'" 

" By this letter, it appears that the President had been distinctly informed of the proceed- 
ings of the committee. The chairman remarked upon the fact, and inquired whether any 
member of the committee had given information to the President of its proceedings. The 
Hon. Abijah Mann, jr., confessed immediately that he had conversed with the President 
on the subject of its proceedings, and was immediately put under examination, upon oath, 
in relation thereto. 

" ' First question by Mr. Wise to Mr. Mann : 

" ' Will you please to state to this committee all you know respecting conversations 
held with the President of the United States, either by yourself or any other member of 
this committee, in relation to the proceedings of this committee, the resolution communi- 
cated to him by the chairman, and the letter from him of this morning ? 

" ' Answer by Mr. Mann: 

" ' I saw the President of the United States, I believe, on Tuesday evening of this week 
at his house; and, in a general conversation, he inquired from me what progress this com- 
mittee were making under the resolution of the House of Representatives ? and I informed 
him that the chairman had submitted a series of four resolutions of a broad character, as I 
considered them, and that the committee had amended them, with a view, as I believed, 



57 

of limiting them to a more practical and definite operation, so as to enable those to whom 
they were addressed to give answers thereto at the present session, by inserting the words 
'without authority of law' in some of said resolutions, as words of limitation and restric- 
tion. 

" 'The President then told me that he would, in proper time, send his answer to this 
committee, after he should receive a copy of the resolutions. This, I believe, is fully the 
substance of the conversation to which I have referred. I cannot remember the words 
used, either by myself or the President. The President told me that he would desire this 
committee to examine, upon oath, such gentlemen as had charged corruptions and abuses 
against the heads of the Executive Departments.' 

"The minority of your committee cannot but remark fully upon the extraordinary char- 
acter of this letter from the President, and of the proceedings of the committee in obedience 
to its request, and to his will as indicated therein, and to a member of the committee in con- 
versation. Though it is directed to Mr. Wise, as chairman of the committee, whose organ 
merely he was in communicating its resolutions calling upon the President officially for in- 
formation, yet it addresses itself to him in every relation of chairman of a committee, of 
representative in Congress, and of an individual man. Without stopping to comment upon 
the utter impropriety of his not discriminating at all between these relations, so essentially 
different and distinct, further than simply to remark that this is the first time a Chief Mag- 
istrate, in officially addressing a public functionary, has ever lost sight of the officer in re- 
garding the individual person whom he addressed, the undersigned proceeds at once to 
show : That this letter is an official assumption of authority by the Executive over the pro- 
ceedings of the House of Representatives, and over the proceedings of one of its commit- 
tees ; that it is an official attack upon the privileges of members of both Houses of Con- 
gress; and that it opposes an unauthorized resistance to the just powers of the House and 
its committee, in direct hostility to inviolable principles necessary to the administration of 
a free Government. 

"Your committee has no power to speak of its personal attack upon individual mem- 
bers. 

"This letter is official It is the " reply" of the President of the United States to a letter 
of a chairman of a committee covering a copy of certain resolutions purporting to have 
been adopted by that committee of the House of Representatives. The letter, enclosing 
the resolutions of the committee, was signed by the writer, as chairman. The reply of the 
President is signed precisely as he signed the "last annual message," and all the messages 
sent by him to Congress ; and was directed on the envelope, and at the end of the letter 
itself, "on the inside, to the chairman of the committee ; as the latter direction, in the point 
and punctuation of passion itself, will emphatically show. It requests the chairman to lay 
it before the committee, and the committee placed it upon its journal as an official com- 
munication from the Executive, to be reported to the House. 

"In this official letter the President assumes authority over the proceedings of the House. 
In the first place, he therein assumes to supervise those proceedings. He says this com- 
mittee was appointed on the motion of its chairman. What authority has the President 
for noticing — what necessity has he for inquiring on whose motion a committee of the 
House is appointed 1 

"That the House had the power to appoint this committee, no one will deny ; that 
any member had the right to move for its appointment, it was once thought no one would 
oppose ; and that the motion for its appointment by one instead of another member consti- 
tuted any part of its illegality or impropriety, was never imagined before, though now we 
know its paternity constitutes its odium to the President. Now we have evidence that the 
President of the United States has not confined his consideration to the results of the pro- 
ceedings of Congress, or of either House; but he assumes to look behind those results, and 
to supervise and consider what each House, for itself alone, by the constitution, has power 
to determine — the proceedings by which it arrived at those results. He has not looked at 
the resolution merely of the House, but to its mover and its advocates, and their speeches 
on the floor. He has interpreted it, not by its own words, its own declared sense— has 
expounded it, not by counter-propositions which failed, by substitutes which were refused, 
or by amendments which were rejected ; but by speeches made at the time, and other 
speeches at different times referred to, and those entirely on one side only of the question 
discussed. How improper it is, and to what pernicious consequences it may lead, for the 
Executive thus to look beyond the order, the resolution, or the vole of either House, or 
both, the nation may clearly infer from how unfortunate it has been that a particular mem- 
ber was the mover for the appointment of this committee in this instance, and that the res- 

5 



58 

olution from which it derived its duties and powers was advocated by him and his 'asso- 
ciates !' 

" Again : The President assumes to control as well as to supervise the proceedings of 
the House. 

" What did the House do, and what did it refuse to do 1 It referred a part of the " last 
annual message" to a select committee, with power to send for persons and papers, and 
with instructions to inquire into the condition of the various Executive Departments, &c. 
Whilst the resolution proposing this inquiry was pending, an amendment was offered by 
Mr. Pearce, of Rhode Island, to instruct the committee to inquire only into such specific 
causes of complaint as might be alleged against the integrity of the administration. 

" These conflicting propositions — the one to inquire simply whether the condition of the 
departments was good or bad, the other to examine into the truth or falsehood of specific 
charges which might be alleged — were fully discussed in the House of Representatives. 
On the one hand, it was contended by the mover of the resolution which finally prevailed, 
and by his " associates" who advocated its passage, that there was reason to believe the ad- 
ministration of the Government was corrupt, and the Executive Departments to be in the 
worst condition. But whether corrupt or not, and whether that condition was good or 
bad, it was the duty of the representatives of the people, at all times when called on, to 
inquire into the condition of the Government. 

" 'That this Government was instituted for the common benefit, protection, and secu- 
rity of the people ; that its form was adopted as one most effectually secured against the 
danger of mal-administration ; that all power is vested in, and consequently derived from, 
the people ; that magistrates are their trustees and servants, and at all times amenable to 
them.' That if neither House of Congress could nor would inquire into the official con- 
duct and administration of Executive officers, the people, who could not inquire in their 
aggregated or conventional capacity ; and the States, which cannot, from their own organ- 
ization, and that of the Federal Government, institute inquiries at all efficiently, could never 
be informed of the official conduct of their federal officers ; and these officers would, in effect, 
become irresponsible, from their acts, except such as they might of themselves disclose, 
being unknown. 

"In addition to this general reason, founded upon the right of the people and of the 
States to know the true condition of their Federal Government, and the actings and doings 
of its officers, and upon the duty of the representatives of both the people and the States 
to report to them upon that condition of Government, and official conduct of public officers, 
the constitution expressly and imperatively declares the President ' shall, from time to 
time, give to the Congress information of the state of the Union ;' and thence it is clearly 
implied that the Congress has the right to call upon the Chief Magistrate for information 
of the State of the Union. 

"Not only so ; but the constitution makes the President, Vice President, and all civil offi- 
cers of the United States removable from office on impeachment; and it declares that the 
House of Representatives shall have the sole power of impeachment. How could the House 
ever know whether the President, Vice President, or any civil officer of the United States 
deserved to be impeached, without inquiring into their conduct, and knowing its merits 
and demerits 1 How could the House ever know whether the President had obeyed the 
solemn injunction of the constitution, ' to take care that the laws be faithfully executed,' 
that clause upon which the President has been wont to rely for the exercise of so many ex- 
traordinary powers, without inquiring how he had discharged that important duty 1 

" Further. 'The Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all netdful rules 
and regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging to the United States.' 
And how shall it know what rules and regulations are necessary to protect the public 
lands, the public money, unless it possesses the means of acquiring the information neces- 
sary, it may be, to protect them from the abuses and corruption of executive officers to 
whom are confided their sales and their safe-keeping 1 How shall the House ever know 
without inquiry 1 

"In reply to all this, it was urged that there was no necessity for the resolution, be- 
cause the standing rules of the House, prescribing the jurisdiction of committees, already 
required the very inquiries proposed by the resolution to be instituted ; that the resolution 
took cognizance of all kinds of complaints from all quarters, and there would be no end to 
the investigation; that there was no constitutional power in the House to institute gene- 
ral inquiries; that such a power existed alone in the Executive as to the departments; that 
it was unusual to institute inquiries into the condition of the Executive Departments just 
as a President was about to retire from office ; and that the resolution impugned the vera- 



city of the President, and the integrity of him and his subordinate officers.* Such were 
the arguments urged against the resolution, and in favor of the amendment. 

"These arguments were met by contending that the resolution did not authorize the 
committee appointed under it to try any officer of any department on any charge whatever. 
Impeachment in the House rather corresponded with indictment at common law in the 
courts. Impeachment must be specific. But a resolution of inquiry was not an impeach- 
ment ; and, so far from implying even a charge, it imported, ' ex vi termini,' a want of 
knowledge upon which to found a charge or specification. It did not even necessarily 
imply an investigation for the purpose of finding grounds for a charge. Inquiry sought 
properly for a good condition, and a faithful conduct of public officers ; and only exposed 
a bad condition and corrupt conduct, if such should be found on due and fair investigation. 
And in this consisted the distinction between inquiry and inquisition. Inquisition seeks 
for the criminal motives and conduct of private individuals in their private affairs, and often 
extorts confession of guilt, from pain, where there is no crime. Inquiry into the condi- 
tion and conduct of public affairs is a right of legislators. Inquisition into the condition 
and conduct of private affairs is no right even of the .sovereign power. Inquisition would 
violate the 4th article of the amendments of the constitution. The resolution of inquiry 
did not invade the security of these rights, as was urged by those in favor of the amend- 
ment proposed. That article reads : 'The rights of the people to be secure in their per- 
sons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be 
violated.' 

"This right is the right of the people. Are the Executive Departments and their offi- 
cers the people? They belong to the people; though the history of Governments proves 
too sadly that, without constant vigilance and strict superintendence over them by the 
people or by their representatives, the people soon become to belong to them! 'To be 
secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects.' Are the departments the public 
houses, papers, and effects, the departments, houses, papers, and effects of the executive 
officers '! 

" Had these officers the right to be secure in them from all inquiry 1 It was thought 
that they were mere trustees and servants, who might be called on at any time to give an 
account of their stewardship. The inquiry proposed by the resolutions was not deemed 
unreasonable. 

" What were the standing rules of the House 1 The 57th rule made it the duty of the 
Committee of Ways and Means 'to examine into the state of the several Executive De- 
partments, &c, and to report, from time to time, such provisions and arrangements as 
may be necessary to add to the economy of the departments, and the accountability of 
their officers.' The 65th rule made it the duty of the Committee on Public Expenditures 
'to examine into the state of the several public departments,' &c. The 77th rule makes 
it the duty of the Committees on Public Accounts, respectively, to examine into the state 
of the accounts, &c, submitted to them, and to report particularly — 

" 'Whether the expenditures of the respective departments are justified by law. 
Whether the claims from time to time satisfied and discharged by the respective depart- 
ments are supported by sufficient vouchers establishing their justness both as to their char- 
acter and amount. 

" ' Whether such claims have been discharged out of funds appropriated therefor; and 
whether all moneys have been disbursed in conformity with appropriation laws; and 
whether any, and what, provisions are necessary to be adopted to provide more perfectly 
for the proper application of public moneys, and to secure the Government from demands 
unjust in their character, or extravagant in their amount. 

" 'And it shall be, moreover, the duty of the said committees to report, from time to 
time, whether any, and what, retrenchment can be made in the expenditures of the seve- 
ral departments, without detriment to the public service; whether any, and what, abuses 
at any time exist in the failure to enforce the payment of moneys which may be due to the 
United States from public defaulters or others; and to report, from time to time, such pro- 
visions and arrangements as may be necessary to add to the economy of the several depart- 
ments, and the accountability of their officers.' 



* This great solicitude on the part, of General Jackson's own partisans, about impugning his veracity and 
integrity, was a more conclusive argument against the salubrity of both than if it hail actually been sought 
to impugn them by the appointment, of the committee. The solicitude of his friends was a tacit confession, 
as strong as words could have made it, that the inquiry could not be .sustained without resulting in a demon- 
stration of the facts that his veracity and integrity were wanting ! And this had been sufficiently proved by 
investigating committees in regard to several of the It ads of Executive offices, before he, knowing the facts, 
nevertheless, dared to pronounce his frail testimony in their behalf! R, M 



60 

"Such were some of the rules — the standing rules — of the House; and they are quoted! 
to show the necessity and the precedent for general and searching inquiry. The second 
argument was inconsistent with the first, that the resolution of inquiry should specify char- 
ges. In these standing rules were committees of inquiry instituted without oath or affir- 
mation, or notice or specification of charges. If the resolution of the House was inquisi- 
torial, these rules were, and had been, from the earliest period of the existence of the House 
itself, standing inquisitions ! There was the duty enjoined to examine into the state of 
the several Executive Departments. There was a search for any and whatever abuses 
might be found to exist, and a report cf them required. Was it ever dreamed before that 
these standing rules were inquisitorial] No! They were the institutions of wise and 
jealous patriots, to insure that "eternal vigilance'' which is the price of liberty ! 

" To the argument that there was no necessity, however, for the resolution of inquiry 
whilst these rules remained, it was urged that, though these rules instituted precisely the 
same kind of inquiry as did the resolution, and with no more specification or intimation 
even of charges, yet they were not so comprehensive or extensive. They related to the 
state of the several public Departments only. The resolution proposed to reach acts and 
proceedings of officers not to be found in the Departments — such acts as have been kept 
from the record. The resolution was intended to reach agents in fact who were not offi- 
cers of the Government in form — to ascertain the public duties performed by persons not 
known to the laws and not responsible at all for any duty, by bond or otherwise — to find 
out by whom these duties had been performed, by whose order, how performed, for what 
compensation, and by whom paid. 

** The duties of these committees related particularly to appropriations only, to the con- 
formity of disbursements with the laws, and to subjects of economy and expenditure. They 
did not embrace fully the delicate subject of common honesty and purity in the administra- 
tion of the Government. 

" But the truth was, these committees never had performed the duties assigned to them. 
Some of the Committees on Public Accounts had failed to sit or act at all. They had 
generally been composed of very good friends of the President and the administration, and 
generally had shown their full confidence in both, by holding neither accountable to them- 
selves or to others. It was true, one ?uember of one of these committees had, during the 
last winter, exposed some astonishing items, in the accounts of the Department of State 
particularly ; but with the exception of his labors, the country had enjoyed the benefit of 
no efficient superintendence over public expenditures whatever. 

" In answer to the third objection, it was replied that the resolution was no broader than 
the President's own message, and used its own language for the greater part. It was 
shown that, though more extended, it was quite as specific as any resolutions of inquiry 
which had ever preceded it. For example, what was the resolution under which the celebrat- 
ed Post Office Committee, which exposed such stupendous fraud, corruption, and mal-ad- 
ministration, was appointed ? 

" 'Mr. Connor, by leave, submitted, June 26, 1834, the following resolution : 

" ' Resolve//, That a committee be appointed to examine the condition and proceedings 
of the Post Office Department, with power to send for persons and papers," &c. 

" What could be more general and indefinite] Not to quote further precedents from 
the journals of Congress, which in some sense might be extended ex parte, and in favor of 
its own power, an Executive authority on the point was cited — an authority which, with 
the President, should have had the greatest possible weight, not only because it was his 
own, but because it was his when just "fresh from the people," who had just triumphed 
in a severe struggle with officers who were accused in their places with being corrupt, and 
whose abuses the President was elected to reform, and pledged himself to reform. In his 
first message to Congress, in December, 1829, the present Chief Magistrate himself held 
this strong republican language : 

" 'In connexion with this subject,' [frauds on the Treasury,] 'I invite the attention of 
Congress to a general and minute inquiry into the condition of the Government, with a 
view to ascertain what offices could be dispensed with, what expenses retrenched, and 
what improvements may be made in the organization of its various parts, to secure 
the proper responsibility of public agents, and promote efficiency and justice in all its 
operations.' 

"If this invitation was meant sincerely, why now the President's opposition to a 'gen- 
eral and minute inquiry,' when his recommendation has never been pursued, without a 
specific bill of impeachment first laid, which could not possibly be found without a pre- 
vious inquiry for facts ] Have the uses and abuses of power changed his opinions, or is it 
because he himself is now implicated 



61 

" One of the very objects oi a resolution ofinquiry may be to ascertain and establish facts 
upon which to found specific charges. If members knew already, there would be no ne- 
cessity to inquire. A member might know, generally, that particular information was 
within the knowledge of a certain witness; that witness might be an executive officer. 
What authority would the member alone have to compel that witness to disclose to him 
facts, circumstances, particulars of time, place, and sums, every article of narration neces- 
sary to constitute a specific charge? If the charge should be inaccurately laid, the pro- 
bata would not agree with the allegata, and the evidence would be excluded, though it 
might show the deepest guilt in some other crime or misdemeanor than that charged in the 
specification. Such mode of inquiry upon specific complaints only, would be but a trap 
for honest inquirers for the truth of good or bad administration. Who best know the facts 
which would constitute the guilt of executive officers, superior or inferior '! The best 
witnesses are executive officers themselves — witnesses who now dare not speak — whose 
mouths are stopped by the hard necessity for bread — whose lips are hermetically sealed by 
an arbitrary proscription ! 

"The amendment proposed to the resolution of the House, so far from inviting or chal- 
lenging any one to bring forward specific charges and proof, would, under all the pains 
and penalties of removal from office, and of persecution, after removal, in the sanctuary of 
private life, ever have forbidden the best informed witnesses of the truth to speak. " Spca!-: 
it you dare !" "Accuse if you dare !" would have been its language in tones not to be 
misunderstood by any dependant on Executive patronage. 

" The resolution referred to all time. True ; but the amendment proposed gave no time. 
A long session might be spent in threading a dark labyrinth for facts on which to found a 
specific complaint; when " a general and minute inquiry" would at once reveal many 
facts, and the witnesses be compelled to speak, and possibly be protected from proscription 
by the mandate of a summons and the solemnity of an oath. They might not then be ex- 
cused, even in these times, for telling the whole truth in its proper garb. 

" The power to inquire into the condition of Government was proved to be in Congress, 
or nowhere under the constitution. The power to inquire into crimes of private individ- 
uals, even against the laws and treaties of the United States, exists in every branch of the 
Government. Whence derived the Executive the powers to ferret out who burnt the 
Treasury buildings, and to reward the active, energetic citizen, whose sagacity and perse- 
verance apprehended the incendiary 1 Whence derived the President the authority to in- 
quire into the causes of the Seminole and Creek wars, and into the frauds of officers, and 
individuals, in purchasing Indian reservations'! The power and the duty of every branch 
of the Government to inquire generally and minutely, was never before doubted or denied 
in the history of this Government. If half the zeal and activity to prevent and detect 
frauds, to ascertain and arrest the causes of Indian hostilities, or to prosecute Indian wars, 
had been employed, that have been systematically exerted to inquire into the political 
opinions of men, the frontiers would not now be ravaged by savage massacres, the 
national honor would not have been tarnished, the national arms not disgraced, and the 
Government would not now be decaying with corruption, and groaning under oppression. 
"The objection to the resolution, that it had not been introduced until the President 
was about to retire from office, was not correct, either in fact or principle; that resolution, 
in substance, had not been delayed until he was about to retire; an attempt had been re- 
peatedly, but unsuccessfully, made to call upon him and his subordinates for due account- 
ability the session before the present; But if not, it was thought that the very time to 
settle accounts with the public servants was when he was about to leave public employment. 
Was it forgotten how rigidly and unsparingly the administration of his predecessor had 
been held accountable by Congress ! An able examination of laborious search, then made, 
found nothing compared with the stupendous frauds, the magnificent abuses, the foul cor- 
ruption, the secret guilt, the open and unblushing profligacy and extravagance which are 
alleged now to despoil our Government, and to disgrace its administration. 

"In answer to the objection, that the resolution would impugn the veracity and integ- 
rity of the President and heads of Departments, it was replied, that such might be its effect, 
but such was the argument of vassals in respect to an autocrat. That the resolution was 
not to try the truth of accusations on the one hand, or of self-acquittals on the other: it 
was simply to inquire. But if it did thus impugn the Executive, so did the standing rule» 
of the House, and so did every guaranty and security which had ever been provided against 
the danger of maladministration. That it was a duty of freemen not to trust, implicitly 
and ignovantly, every thing to rulers. And were the representatives to fail or falter in the 
discharge of their duty, because the President, or any thing that was his, stood in the way ? 



62 

There was no such thing as 'seandalwm magnaiurn' in this Government. True, mem- 
bers were warned that heavy penalties ami curses of public odium would be heaped on 
them in conflict with a popular Chief .Magistrate, whose frown has heretofore withered 
and blasted most men who have dared to incur his displeasure ; but with those who dared 
to do their duty without fear, favor, or affection, their sense of duty was stronger than their 
fear or their veneration for any man or any name ; they were consoled with the virtuous 
reflection, that they who deserved ignominy and reproach were not those who honestly 
sought for purity in the administration of a Government which cannot live without if, but 
rather they w r ho seek to conceal the corruption which is gnawing on its vitals. 

" Upon this discussion, the House of Representatives rejected the amendment requiring 
specific charges, and thereby declared that such should not be required before ' general and 
minute inquiry.' The President has said, in direct contradiction to this, that he will repel 
all inquiry as he would the establishment of a Spanish inquisition, unless charges specific 
and tangible are made. 

" The House has declared that a member shall not be required to prefer an accusation 
before he inquires into the condition of Government ; the President declares he shall be so 
required ; and, if he does not prefer charges, or prove them when made, he denounces him 
and his associates as the authors of unfounded calumnies. 

"The House declared that inquiry should not be converted into impeachment; the 
President declares that the House shall not inquire, unless it does impeach. 

"The House declared this committee to be necessary and proper; the President has de- 
nounced it, in effect, to be unnecessary and improper. 

"The House has said that the committee shall have power to send for persons and pa- 
pers ; the President has said that the heads of departments shall devote themselves to their 
public business, in preference to any calls for information, which he was pleased to denounce 
as illegal and unconstitutional. 

"But the President has not only assumed to supervise and control the proceedings of 
the House ; he has directly assumed to supervise, and has actually controlled, the proceed- 
ings of its committee. His letter clearly discloses that he had been informed by some one, 
necessarily a member of the committee, too, that its first proceeding was to pass a series 
of resolutions; that they were introduced by the chairman ; and that they were amended 
in a particular manner in their passage. It was believed that a system of espionage was 
in operation in this metropolis, and began to be felt throughout every precinct of power in 
the land; but it was not imagined that a member of Congress on a committee would reg- 
ularly report its proceedings to the President, without license to do so. That member of 
this committee was immediately put upon his oath, and testified that the President inquired 
of him for information respecting the proceedings of the committee. If he had told the 
Chief Magistrate of all the proceedings as particularly as he did some of the facts, he would 
have informed him that the resolutions, which the chairman introduced to the committee, 
were in nowise obnoxious to the President's objections : he would have told him that the 
chairman proposed not to inquire whether he had done any act ' without authority of law ;' 
that he asked not the President to furnish evidence against himself, and imputed to him 
no guilt. The resolution sent to the President, as originally prepared, called for the evi- 
dence only of the public record ; that of itself, it was known, would convict him, if guilty. 
What imputation of guilt was there in that, resolution 1 Did it not call for information as 
to ' particular transactions V Did it ask the President to convict himself more than he was 
already convicted by the record 1 

"The President's own friends, he should have been told, interpolated the odious words 
' if any, without authority of law,' against the consent of the mover and his 'associates.' 
The very informer who rendered these resolutions odious to the President, by telling him 
they were introduced by the chairman, should also have told him that the words which im- 
pute to him guilt, and which ask him to furnish evidence against himself, were introduced 
by the informer himself. 

"The resolution merely called for an account of official acts, as evidenced by the public 
record, which every officer is bound to exhibit when called for by competent authority ; 
the amendment called on that officer himself to pick therefrom the evidence alone which 
would convict him of violation of law. The object of this amendment may have been to 
render the resolution improper, and the mover of it may have acted under instructions to 
Jo so. The undersigned will not affirm this to be so. But if the intention was not to 
put the committee in the wrong, in order that the President might obtain an advantage 
over it, by having it fully in his power to denounce its proceedings, it certainly was thought 
to be the intention of the President 1 .* friends, and it is but justice to their kind feelirgs 



63 

towards him to say so, to limit the call as much as possible, to make the Executive officer 
alone the judges of their own acts, and to afford them the opportunity of acquitting them- 
selves by simply replying, " We have made no appointments, employed no officers or 
agents, paid none without authority of law."* The majority of the committee took all 
means of forming a judgment or opinion themselves, and afforded the Executive officers 
the opportunity of saying generally, according to their own good opinion of their own 
acts, 'we are not guilty.' With this decided advantage, sought and obtained for them 
through their own friends, by amendments which, though they do impute guilt, insure 
acquittal by the accused parties' own judgment, what are we to infer from their standing 
mute'? Now that the President has not availed himself of this opportunity of pleading 
' not guilty,' or finding himself innocent, what must the world infer from his complaint 
against his own friends, that they called on him to furnish evidence to convict himself 1 
Might they not dare to suggest that he has not been over-cautious in admitting that he 
would be obliged to convict himself, he himself being the judge of the evidence 1 The 
very object of their amendment was to afford him the chance of acquitting himself; and 
yet he complains that he cannot do so, and reproaches his friends for seeking to make him 
his own accuser ' an the authority of that body, in which alone, by the constitution, the 
power of impeaching him and his advisers is vested.' Sad dilemma, indeed, in which 
such obliging friends have placed him — forcing him to admit he cannot acquit himself ! 
And one House of Congress cannot pass a declaratory resolution upon the^ President's 
acts, without impugning his motives, because it is to try ; the other cannot inquire into 
his official conduct, though both his acts and motives have, as he alleges, been impugned, 
because it is to impeach ! To *hat, then, has he resolved the Executive] To an inscru- 
table, irresponsible, unchecked, and unbalanced branch of the Government, which has all 
the power of committing every abuse of law and violation of duty with impunity, and all 
the power of concealment with certainty. 

" Here it might well be solemnly asked, if his ambition had not lately been sufficiently 
glutted with humbling the Senate to the desecration of its own inviolable records for his 
take, not. to have been insatiable in seeking to subdue also the other House of Congress, 
which is peculiarly the House of the people, and which for years has, in too many instan- 
ces, been more than indulgent to his will] In the name of the country, he might havo 
spared some check upon the will, and not left all a wreck — a sacrifice at the shrine of one 
man ! 

"The President not only assumed to supervise the proceedings of the committee, but to 
control them by a bold request, which every one at all acquainted with his powerful influ- 
ence well knows how to denominate an order. 

" It appears that the resolutions of the committee were adopted on Monday, the 23d ; that 
Mr. Mann informed the President of the proceedings on Tuesday, the 24th, before the 
President received the letter of the chairman on the same evening-, that then the President 
told him he would, in proper time, send his answer to the committee, after he should re- 
ceive a copy of the resolutions; and that he would desire the committee to examine, upon 
oath, such gentlemen as had charged corruption and abuses against the heads of Execu- 
tive Departments; that on Friday, the 27th, less than three days thereafter, Mr. Maim 
railed on the chairman, and on Mr. Bell, to answer the general question " whether they, 
of their own knowledge, knew of any acts, by either of the Executive Departments, either 
corrupt, or a violation of their official duties]" On that very day the letter of the Presi- 
dent was handed to the chairman, whilst he was in the act of testifying; that the letter of 
the President itself did request the committee to call upon the chairman, and his associ- 
ates, and every other member of Congress who had made the general charge of corruption, 
to testify before God and our country whether they knew of any specific corruption or 
;sbusc of trust in the Executive Departments ; and if so, what it was; and that on Satur- 
day, the 28th, the Hon. John Bell was sworn, and the Hon. B. Peyton and F. W. 
Pickens, of the House, and the Hon. John C. Calhoun and H. L. White, of the Senate, 



* Aocordinaly, they did resort to this arsument, as may be seen by thpjr several letters in answer to the 
■chairman of the committee. Take for example, the following extract from Keiulall's answer, as Postmaster 
General, page 46, same report, viz : 

" These resolutions further require the heads of Departments to communicate information to the commit- 
tee in relation to acts and appointments which may have been done or made by them 'without authority of 
law.' If the ■words ' without authority of law' are to be construed as meaning in violation of law, the com- 
mittee will perceive that the report of a single case by the heads of Departments, under their own adminis- 
tration, would, ipsofaclo, Lie an admission that they had violated the laws ; and the rpport of any case of an 
■earlier date would be to make such a charge against their predecessors," &c. 



64 

were ordered to be summoned upon the motion of Mr. Mann. From this statement of 
facts it seems impossible to doubt that the President of the United States did inquire about 
the acts of the committee; was informed by a member of the committee concerning its 
proceedings; did indicate to that member, in conversation, and afterwards to the commit- 
tee itself, in writing, his desire that it should call upon members of Congress to testify to 
(he truth of their speeches made on the floor of either House in debate ; that the member 
and the committee obeyed his desire and request, and did cause those members of Con- 
gress to be summoned to testify in the manner the President had indicated in conversation 
and in his letter. 

"Thus the President first repelled the inquiry from the Executive, and then turned it 
upon the two Houses of Congress. He first denounced the committee as worse than a 
Spanish inquisition, and then actually made his denunciation true by converting it into 
what he denounced. He condemned its acts as unconstitutional, then made them so. He 
gave it the very character he condemned, and made its proceedings as odious as he would 
have them to be, in attacking the privileges of the Representatives of the States and of the 
people. He has invaded these privileges, and violated the constitution, by holding mem- 
bers of both Houses of Congress directly accountable to him for words spoken in debate. 
He has called upon them to swear, before God and the country, to the truth of their 
speeches on the floor ; thus holding them accountable, in the most odious and insulting 
manner, in the form of a test oath. He first intimated his desire to a member of the com- 
mittee, who was so swift to obey his merest wish, that the chairman was called on to swear 
to the truth of what he had spoken, before even the official request by letter had reached 
the committee. Both his verbal and written, his secret and open order, were summarily 
obeyed by instantly summoning hoary and honored Senators, and young and inexperi- 
enced Representatives, to purge themselves on oath of their contempt to the Executive I 
They obeyed — not the mandate of the President, or the summons of the committee, but a 
sense of obligation to the country, to show that their speeches were not the declamation of 
demagogues, not ad caplandum harangues, not merely "spargere voces," to excite false 
alarms or to raise a senseless clamor, but that they solemnly believed the truths they had 
uttered, and were ready to seal that belief with their oaths; at the same time protesting 
against the abuse and outrage upon their privileges. Happy if the oaths of these wit- 
nesses shall not produce more direful effects than their speeches ; and happier still, for the 
nation, if there shall be another foundation stone left for civil liberty to rest on, when the 
freedom of debate shall thus be destroyed ! 

" The constitution expressly provides that ' for any speech or debate in either House, the 
Senators and Representatives shall not be questioned in any other place.' The object oi 
this constitutional provision was to provide for such cases as that now under consideration : 
cases where the Senators and Representatives might deem it their duty to comment and 
speak freely upon the conduct of public officers and others. Who now will dare thus to 
speak in debate, if he may be called by the President to swear on the holy evangelists to 
the truth of every suspicion which he may feel it his sacred duty to utter, under the pain 
and penalty of being branded by the highest authority in the land with the infamy of false- 
hood and calumny 1 If this be tolerated, the Representative's mind must endure the 
weightiest convictions, but his tongue, must be silent; the people must remain ignorant of 
their rulers unless he have the hardihood to peril every thing personal for their sake and 
the public good. 

"After what has been said, it is not deemed necessary to show that the President has 
opposed a violent resistance to the just powers of the House and its committee, in direct 
hostility to evei-y principle of liberty and law, justice arid right. So far as his attack has 
been purely personal upon members of either House, it becomes them to remember that he 
is honored by office and by age. But the undersigned cannot refrain from saying, that if 
they had spread before them the whole catalogue of Executive offences against law, liberty, 
right, reason, justice, truth, principle, precedent, the constitution and the country, how- 
ever numerous and aggravated they may be or have been, as the prison-houses of the depart- 
ments might disclose — they would scarcely expect to find one mere ruthless than this official 
act of thePresident, characterized as it is by the worst of principles, prejudices, and passions, 
in violation of his duty, and injurious to the public institutions and to private persons. The 
House — the Congress — the nation, should rebuke this act with patriotic indignation — with 
the indignation of freemen, of jealous lovers of liberty, and of the law by which it is se- 
cured. They should defy it as they do treason and tyranny. If this Executive act and its- 
principles be sustained and go unrebuked — if it be settled that there shall be no inquiry in- 
to the condition of the Government, without specific charges against its officers ; that in- 



65 

quiry is trial and inquisition ; that public officers are to he secure in their departments, and 
the houses, papers, and effects belonging to the people, as private persons are in theirs ; 
that public officers are as the people free from scrutiny ; that they aie not subject, neither 
indeed can be, to reasonable accountability ; that they must be impeached before they can 
he called on to report to the people ; that select committees shall not be appointed to ascer- 
tain abuses; that agents unknown to the law may be protected, for that very reason, from 
all search into their conduct ; that there shall be no general and minute investigation ; that 
there is no constitutional power in the House of Representatives to inquire into the conduct 
of Executive officers ; that there shall be no inquiry, because it may impugn the veracity 
and integrity of the President, when that is the best of all reasons for inquiry ; that in- 
quiries shall lend to render odious those who institute them ; that the President may super- 
vise and control the proceedings of both Houses of Congress, and of their committees; that 
he may resist their just powers; that he may convert their committees of inquiry into in- 
quisitions upon themselves ; that he may officially denounce their proceedings, grossly in- 
sult their members in the discharge of their duties, and violently trample upon their most 
sacred privileged — then is utterly gone all purity, all honesty in this Government, its 
strength, its dignity, its glory, its freedom itself?" 

[The details of Executive usurpation and official abuses developed by this investigation, 
notwithstanding the active partisan guardianship of the majority of the committee, are more 
shocking than the general terms of the foregoing extracts can convey. I shall subjoin two 
•cases only, from the same report, pages 79 to 81.] 

"The undersigned deems it to be his duty to present, also, another subject clearly before 
the House and the nation. 

" On the 1 1th of July, 1836, the Treasury Department issued a circular to the land re- 
ceivers and deposite banks, requiring specie in payment for the public lands. This circu- 
lar, it is believed, was dictated by the President, without the concurrence of the Secretary 
of the Treasury ; it is believed to have benefited speculators in the public lands only, many 
■of whom are charged to be officers of the Government; and the circular itself was thought 
So be, if not in violation of law, a suspension of law — at least in violation of a sacred prin- 
ciple of civil liberty ' that all power of suspending laws, or the execution of laws, by any 
authority, without the consent of the representatives of the people, is injurious to theii 
rights, and ought not. to be exercised.' The circular was an abuse in itself, but its appli- 
cation, or rather the exception in its application, was a greater abuse still, as the following 
correspondence between the Branch Bank of Alabama, at Decatur, and the Secretary of 
the Treasury, will show." 

[The letter of the cashier making the request, and the answer of the Secretary of the 
Treasury granting it, arc here omitted.] 

"Thus, by this circular, and this exception under it, not only were the laws suspended, 
hut their uniformity destroyed, by the authority of the President alone, immediately after 
Congress was in session. One portion of the people was accommodated, in being allowed 
to pay for public lands in convenient bank notes, whilst their neighbors were obliged to pay 
m specie, at every cost and trouble, and risk of transportation. One bank's notes were re- 
ceived to any amount less than $500,000, whilst the banks of the surrounding States, or 
of Tennessee at least, were run hard for every dollar of coin which could be had. The 
presidential election was then fast approaching ; and what effect this indulgence, and that 
contained in the circular as to bank notes of Mississippi banks, for lands in Mississippi, had 
upon the people of the two States, Alabama and Mississippi, it is not difficult to deter- 
mine. 

' ' There are a number of other cases which might be selected from the testimony, the 
whole mass of which is submitted, but the committee has not had time to report particular- 
ly upon them. The undersigned, however, would call the attention of the House particu- 
larly to a report of Amos Kendall and John P. Van Ness, commissioners appointed, by au- 
thority of the President, to receive and report testimony touching certain charges preferred 
by H. Gassaway ; and also to the testimony of Commodore Morris and Charles W. Golds- 
borough, in relation to said charges, in the appendix to the journal of this committee. 
One thing is remarkable about this notable commission, that the commissioners it seemed 
issued subpoenas for witnesses in the form of "request" and it is believed that one or both 
of them administered corporal oaths. How far the constitution of this tribunal was in the 
competency of Executive authority, the undersigned is not prepared to say. But this 
[they] are prepared to say : that, whilst the President was denouncing this committee as 
worse than a Spanish inquisition, he should have looked well to his own acts in instituting 
commissions of inquiry. Certain it is that, though these commissioners reported very 



66 

strongly against several officers in the Navy Department, not one of them, as far as this 
committee is informed, has ever been removed from office." * * * 

" For other matters also of great interest, the minority must refer generally to the testi- 
mony of the honorable H. I.. White, John Bell, Balie Peyton, Francis W. Pickens, Henry 
A. Wise, Amos Kendall, David Henshaw, John Ross, and others who were examined. 
Many who were summoned and sworn could not be examined; some for the want of time, 
and others because they would not have been permitted to testily as to the matters Of evi- 
dence for which they were called." ***** 

(Signed) "HENRY A. WISE- 

"Febbuabt 27, 1837." 

The reader can now appreciate the impression which I must avow was made on my mind 
by the perusal of the foregoing extract, that the proceedings of the aforesaid committee pre- 
sented one of the most interesting spectacles to the cause of liberty ever exhibited since the 
memorable struggle of the patriots of '76 — a period rendered notable by a thousand inci- 
dents; of which the early denunciations of the tyranny of George III, by the illustrious Pat- 
kick Hiixnr, in the Colonial Assembly of Virginia, was not the least remarkable, and unto 
whose course the likeness is not altogether unapt, in that of the youthful member of the 
House of Represntativcs, who stood up fearlessly and almost alone in the committee, the 
champion of Executive reform, over the shoulders of him who had acquired the ferocious 
reputation of destroying all who dared incur his displeasure. It has also been seen with 
what unexampled ability and perseverance this youthful statesman detected and exposed 
the dictation and the hectoring practised on either hand, by that arbitrary executive chief- 
tain, towards members of both Houses of Congress, (his partisans on the one side, and po- 
litical opponents on the other,) in double violation of their constitutional privileges and his 
own official duties; while, in many instances, this stripling in years but giant in intellect 
and characteristic intrepidity, also unmasked the hardy attempts of the same haughty and 
domineering personage, to conceal the corruptions of his subordinate executive officers — 
demonstrating, at the same time, the futility of the constitutional provision for Executive 
impeachment by tribunals thus liable to be humiliated at the footstool of Executive in- 
fluence, however heinously that officer might be involved in men chimes a?id misde- 
MKAXons against the public weal ! 

NIV. But if the stead r ast upholding of the Executive (by the majority of the aforesaid and 
other committees pertinaciously obstructing and hindering the investigation of the graver 
matters of inquiry brought before them, and thereby becoming auxiliaries to the conceal- 
ment of the monstrous frauds that had commenced and were daily increasing from the be- 
ginning of theJackson era) served at the. same time to augment the number and enormity 
of those frauds, by the additional impulses and fecundity derived from the temporary secu- 
rity and official protection of that assumed executive unity which arrogates to itself the sole 
responsibility for all the official acts of his subordinates, yet it also had a tendency to ac- 
celerate that exposure which only awaited the casualty of changes in party majorities, 
that it was of itself gradually bringing about, in the minds of honorable representatives of 
freemen, jealous of their rights ; who, at some future day, would have it In their power to 
lay open those hot-bed corruptions of Jacksonism to public inspection, amazement, and 
universal execration. 

Accordingly, as soon as a temporary whig majority in the House of Representatives be- 
came propitious for investigation, a call, by resolution, at the September session of 1S37, 
was made on the Secretary of the Treasury for a lis't ; of defaulters, with an abstract of the 
correspondence of the Department thereon. The i /--responsible chieftain, who, with that 
extraordinary enchantment of personal popularity which constitutes the momentary safety 
of usurpation and despotism, had guarded the public plunderers from exposure, being then 
officially defunct, the call of the House was complied with, under the administration of the 
present cunning substitute for his iron-willed predecessor; and it would soem, at the same 
time, to befit his policy, under the altered circumstances of the case, to make a merit of di- 
verting public attention from that formidable catalogue, to the magnificent embezzlement by 
the collector of New York, the mention of which bad probably been res-erved from that list 
for a subsequent voluntary exposition by the Executive, in order to appropriate to himself 
some credit therein, with an accompanying suggestion of legal remedies against the like 
frauds that might be committed in future, when, in fact, there was no defect in the laws 
and regulations already and long since existing, from the act of the 2d September, 1789, 
with the regulations of successive Presidents and Secretaries of the Treasury, particularly 
of Gallatin and Crawford, but which had fallen into desuetude, by official dereliction, from 
»he commencement of Jackson's administration. 



67 

This shallow device, however, did not serve its intended purpose: for, in consequence of 
the politic communication of the President, at the next session of Congress, in relation to 
this subject, a select committee of the House of Representatives (the temporary whig ma- 
jority being still propitious for investigation) was elected by ballot, consisting of Mr. Har- 
lan, Mr. Wise, Mr. Curtis, Mr. Dawson, Mr. Hopkins, Mr. Smith, Mr. Foster, Mr. Ow- 
ens, and Mr. Wagoner, " to inquire into the extent and character of saia I default ',■ and 
also to inquire into and make report of any other defalcations among collectors, receivers, 
and disbursers of the public money, which may now exist," 4*c <$rc. 

Without going into any of the particulars of the report of the said committee, which, in 
the appaling aggregate, under all the circumstances, show that the whole revenue of the 
country was placed in imminent jeopardy by the pervading and systematic defalcations of 
nearly all the officers concerned in its collection, attended with corresponding neglect or 
connivance therein by the high accounting officers of the Treasury Department, with the 
necessary privity and secret sanction of the President — it must suffice here to state, in gen- 
eral terms, that the said report (No. 313, 3d session, 25th Congress) establishes, by in- 
disputable and multiplied evidence, the following facts, viz: 

1. That Swartwout's defalcation and application of the public money to his own use, 
began within nine months after his appointment as collector, in 1 829. (See Report, 
page 26.) 

2. That it. continued to increase, under the silent acquiescence and culpable neglect of 
the accounting officers of the Treasury Department, and the naval officer at New York, 
until 183?, when, having lost party favor, he endeavored to conceal his defalcations by 
means of fraudulent and false returns. (Seepages 22, 25, 33.) 

3. That, from his notorious character and pecuniary irresponsibility, Samuel Swartwout 
was an unlit person for such an appointment, or to be retained in office, from the date of 
his commission, throughout the period he served. See pages 28, 29. 

4. That every temptation and facility were afforded him, during that period, by the na- 
val officer "disregarding the requirements of law and the instructions of the Treasury De- 
partment, (i (long standing;) his culpably neglecting to keep the accounts and records ap- 
pertaining to his office, and thereby rendered the office nugatory as a check upon the ac- 
counts of the collector." (Seepages 41, 72, 73.) 

5. That the several successive Secretaries of the Treasury, (four,) and their chief clerks 
during the same period; the successive First Comptrollers, (three,) and their chief clerks; 
the successive First Auditors, (two,) and their chief clerks, with other subordinate account- 
ants, were implicated in the same, by flagrant violations of law and the long-established 
regulations of the Department; neglecting to examine Swartwout's monthly and quarterly 
retiuns, and discontinuing the books established for the record of the same — to the end 
"that, while a part of this important system of the Treasury Department, designed to 
guard and preserve the public revenues against peculations and frauds, has been pennitted 
to fall into oblivion, and another fragment of it has been continued to be made to this day, 
neither the part abandoned nor the part continued has ever been known to, or comprehend- 
ed, and much less appreciated in use, by either the head or any subordinate clerk in the 
Treasury Department." (Sec pages 42, 43, 48, 84.) 

6. That the facts of progressive defalcation were avowedly known to certain subordinate 
officers in the customs at New York, and in the Treasury Department at Washington ; but 
that they did not speak of it in a manner calculated to excite the attention of their superi- 
ors : on the contrary, Mr. Shultz, whose situation as clerk in the customs at New York 
made him personally acquainted with those transactions, excused himself befoic the commit- 
tee, for not having made disclosures respecting them, by saying, "because we clerks of the 
custom-house consider ourselves as in the service of the collector and not in the service of 
the United States" — affording a valuable instance of custom-house morality and patriotism. 
(See pages 94, 265.) 

7. That the present collector, Mr. Hoyt, was in a promising way of following the foot- 
t-teps of his " illustrious predecessor," " having violated the standing instructions of the Treas- 
ury Department; having repudiated the official decision of the responsible law officer of the 
Executive department, (the. Attorney Genera! ;) and is guilty of an illegal retention and use 
of the public money, in the amount held by him under protest and for unascertained du- 
ties" — [probably upon the Jacksonian notion of executing the laws and the constitution 
as hf. understands them !] (See page 141.) 

8. That Wm. M. Price (late district attorney at New York, whose defalcation, accord- 
ing to the testimony of 13. F. Butler, Esq., his successor in office, was £72,124 06, more 
or less) was notorious for his pecuniary irresponsibility and want of trust-worthiness, as a 



6S 

professional man, in the community from which he was selected, at the time of his appoint- 
ment to the important office of district attorney, in 1834, by President Jackson, as also at 
the time of his reappointment, in 1838, by President Van Buren — according to the testi- 
mony of many of the oldest and most respectable citizens of New York, several of whom 
testified to his bearing that character through an acquaintance with him of twenty and thir- 
ty years' duration. (Seepages 99 to 105.) 

9. Also, that a tax, pro rata, from one to six per cent., was regularly assessed on the 
salaries of clerks and other officers in the customs, with the privity, sanction, and par- 
ticipation of Swartwout, Price, Hoyt, and other principal officers, to be devoted to the elec- 
tioneering, and other political purposes of what they termed the "democratic republican 
party ;" which payments were regularly and rigidly exacted by executive committees, as the 
price of their salaries, the refusal to pay which tax, in some instances, was attended by dis- 
missal from office ; and that those proceedings were held to be " strictly coxhdt.xtiai." 

' (Seepages 249 to 252.) 

10. That "the defalcations among the receivers of the public moneys, arising from 
the sales of public lands, with the correspondence had between the Treasury Department 
and said defaulters, show the manner in which the President of the United States and the 
Secretary of the Treasury have executed the laws in respect to the public money in the. 
hands of this class of public officers, and in respect to their own official duty." (Seepage 142.) 

11. That " the practice which the said correspondence exhibits, of retaining men in office 
after gross and repeated violations of law, in keeping and using the public moneys for 
private speculation, and the character of the correspondence itself, but too clearly point to 
the inference that such officers were retained in place because they possessed extensive 
political influence, and were useful and active partisans." (See page 143, and the coires 
povidence from page 147 to 246.) 

The general character of the correspondence just mentioned, between the Secretary of 
the Treasury and the defaulting receivers, may be derived from two or three specimens — 
from that with Harris, Boyd, Spencer, and Linn. 

Through the course of a very long correspondence with Wiley P. Harris, receiver at 
Columbus Mississippi, the Secretary of the Treasury, during an uninterrupted period of 
nearly three years, (from 15th January, 1834, to 27th August, 1830,) makes conciliatory 
remonstrances with Mr. Harris, as with others, for continual neglect to make out and 
forward regularly, his monthly returns of sales, and deposites of public money. On the 
28th August, 1835, the Secretary addressed Mr. Harris thus : 

" Sin.: Agreeably to the intimation given you in my letter of the 20lh June, it has become my disagree- 
able duty to report your continued neglect to the President ; who has instructed me to say to you, that if the 
monthly returns required from you by the regulations of the Treasury, which are in arrears, are not received 
at the Denartment on or before the lUth of October next, you will then be dismissed from office. 

(Signed} " LEVI WOODBURY." 

Upon the receipt of this notice, it appears that Mr. Harris took measures to procure 
letters from his "democratic" friends, to President Jackson, to stay action in the case, on 
electioneering and political party grounds. I take the following extract from the letter of 
the Hon. John F. H. Claiborne, to the President, dated 15th September, 1835. 

'•Dear Sir: Many of the early and. constant friends of ih'e Administration, in this State have heard", 
with much regret and sorrow, that the present receiver- of public moneys, at this place, is to 'consider 
himself dismissed, unless his returns are made before the 1st of October.' * * * * ' From my know led :■ 
of the business of the office, I do not think it p tssible that the receiver can accomplish his returns by the 1st 
of October,' [meaning that he cannot make his deposites td the credit '.of the Government ; which is sup 
posed by the laws and regulations to be perfectly practicable, and is required to lie done monthly. After an 
abusive attack upon Mr. Poindexter, doubtless to .propitiate the President's ear for the political argument 
that was to follow-, he aoes on and says,] ' Nothing would rejoice him [Poindexter] more than the expulsion 
ol General Harris, whom he knows to be one of the main pillars of the democratic cause, and one of the 
earliest and most distinguished/riewds of the administration in Mississippi. His family and connexions 
are extreme!'/ influential, and all of them are co-operating with us in the arduous struggle which u 
note making. They are true democrats: and the bank, nullifying, and White parties would sho.il 
for ' victory' at any blow aimed at them. 

"Wbabbnowih the midst of an electioneering campaign. — Governor Runnels, R, Walker, 
Major B. W. Edwards, and myself, constitute the DEMOCRATIC VAN BUREN ticket. IT WILL 
BE A CLOSE CONTEST !" 

Ergn — " Better let General Harris be" and keep his hundred thousand dollars of the 
public money, rather than alienate a lew votes from Mr. Van Burcn, was the palpable 
proposition which Mr. Claiborne, set out to establish, and which he doubtless did prove, 
o the satisfaction of General Jackson, as the next letter from the Secretary to Mr. Harris 
postponed the matter, by authority of the President, " trusting to his assurances, and 
those of his friends, made in his behalf," &c. Yet Harris's delinquencies went on from 
bad to worse, for nearly a twelvemonth longer, as is apparent from the details, until, on 
the 6th June, 1836, Mr. Woodbury addressed him thus : 



69 

'• Sir : Your letter of the 23d ultimo, accompanied by your returns for the month of April, is received - 
Seeing the balance of public moneys in your hands amounted to Jgl28,5S4 70, at the end of that month, I 
have to request that you will explain irhy it was that the whole of the public moneys in your hands on 
the last of the previous month, was not deposited, instead of a part, in conformity to explicit and frequent 
instructions on that point % It is painful to be obliged to ask you so often for explanations. 

(Signed) " " LEVI WOODBURY." 

Shortly after this, having given no satisfaction to the department, this Mr. Harris, the 

"'main pillar of the democratic cause" in Mississippi, addressed a letter to the President, 

dated 27th August, 183fi, tendering a resignation of his office, holding on to more than 

one hundred thousand dollars of the public money, and recommends a particular friend, of 

his as his successor. The conclusion of his letter runs thus: 

* * * "i wish my resignation to take effect from and after the last day of the present month, (August,) 
at which time I shall, in anticipation, close up the business of the office. 

" In conclusion, I will take the liberty of recoumending to you for appointment, as my successor, Colonel 
Gordon D. Boyd, of Attala county. You are probably acquainted with his public character, as lie has been 
for several years a prominent member of our Slate Legislature, and has been throughout an ardent support- 
er of your Administration, and an unyielding advocate of the principles of democracy ! This request is 
made in his behalf, in part, on my own account. Ashe is my warm personal friend, he will willingly afford 
me every facility in his power to trace out and explain any errors which may have occurred while the 
office was under my charge. (Signed) " W. f. HARRIS." 

Accordingly, Mr. Boyd was appointed, under a recommendation, that, to most men, 
would have been among the best reasons why he should not have been appointed. And, 
in less than twelve months from the date of his appointment, this "unyielding advocate 
o> democratic principles," as was to be expected from the source, and tenor of his recom- 
mendation, perpetrated a full-handed defalcation, of which the reader will learn enough to 
characterize a host of the like cases, from the following extract from the report of V. M. 
Garesche, appointed to examine the land offices, dated at Columbus, (Mississippi,) June 
14, 1837, viz: 

"The account of the receiver, which I have made out, and transmit herewith, presents against him a 
balance of 855,965 54." * * * "The man (Boyd) seems really penitent; and I am inclined to think 
in common with his friends that he is honest, and has been led away from his duty, by the example of his 
predecessor, and a certain looseness in the code of morality, which here does not move in so limited a circle 
as it does with us at home. [Then God help them.] Another receiver would probably "follow in the 
footsteps' of the two. You will not, therefore, be surprised if I recommend his being retained, in preference 
to another appointment ; for lie lias his hands full now, and will not be disposed to speculate any more ' 
* * * "Signed V. M. GARESCHE." 

Let us pass now to a brief notice of the correspondence with John Spencer, receiver at 

Fort Wayne ; from which it will be perceived that the same party influence so adroitly and 

effectually urged in behalf of Harris, by the Hon. J. F. H. Claiborne, was, with equal 

success, held up by the Hon. William Hendricks, as an argument to the Secretary of the 

Treasury to tolerate his official derelictions of duty. On the 13th August, 1836, Mr. 

Woodbury addressed Mr. Spencer in relation to his default as follows : 

"Sir: Your letter of the 28th ultimo, enclosing your monthly return for June, is received. Seeing that 
the balance in your hands amounts to the sum of .8100,599 32, 1 must require that the same be transmitted, 
to the bank of deposite forthwith, and request you to explain why the amount has been so long retained in 
yaur hands. No answer to my letter of the 8th ultimo, has been received. 

(Signed) "LEVI WOODBURY." 

Shortly after the above, the party influences of the Hon. William Hendricks is procured, 
which succeeds, as a matter of course, by a letter to the Secretary, dated 31st August, 
1836, as follows: 

"Sir: lam informed that some things are stated recently to the prejudice of Colonel John Spencer, receiver 
at Fort Wayne ; and / am requested to write to you. In doing so, I can only say, that I have been gratified in 
learning that his deposites have been made to your satisfaction ; and, if so, I hope that minor matters, if mere 
irregularities, will be overlooked. He is repuied to be an honest man, and I do not believe that he has inten- 
tionally either done wron<r or violated his instructions. It would to some extent produce excitement if he 
were removed, for he has many warm and influential friends, both at Fort Wayne and in Dearborn 
county, from which he. removed to his prosent residence. BETTER LET IT BE ! 

(Signed) " WILLIAM HENDRICKS." 

If there can be distinguishable degrees of culpability in the countenance and protection 
given by the Executive to these defaulters, that exhibited in the case of William Linn, late 
receiver at Vandalia, Illinois, is the most reprehensible that has come under my notice. 

On the 23d June, 1834, he was addressed by Mr. Taney, then Secretary of the Trea- 
sury, complaining of his retention of the public, moneys in his hands, in violation of the 
regulations and provisions of law — stating, at the same time, the sums he had omitted to 
deposite in March, April, and May preceding. 

On the 23d October, 1834, Mr. Woodbury addressed the same Mr. Linn, complaining 
of his continued neglect, and threatened his removal from office, as per the following ex- 
tract : 

" Observing from your monthly return of the 30th ultimo that, notwithstanding the positive injunction con 
tained in a letter from the Department, dated the 23d June last, (of which a copy is herewith enclosed,)th& 



public moneys have been permitted to accumulate in your hands, in violation of the law and instructions of 
the Department, since the 31st of May last. I am constrained, by your continued neglect, to call your imme- 
diate attention to the subject, and again to require that the whole of the public moneys in your possession be 
deposited forthwith. Unless you exhibit to the Department satisfactory evidence of your having done so 
prior to the 1st day of December next, it will be my painful duty to submit the case for the action of the Ex- 
ecutive, and to recommend the appointment of another person as your successor. 

(Signed) " LEVI WOODBURY." 

Did the contumacious Mr. Linn comply now, think you 1 Let the next letter of the 

Secretary, dated on the 4th of December, above specified, give the answer. He says to 

Mr. Linn: 

" Sir : Allow me to inquire why it is that your letter of the 16th ultimo is entirely silent as to your neglect 
to comply with the positive directions contained in a letter from the Department dated 23d June last, and that 
you still neglect to pay over the public money in your hands, or to furnish the statement as required by my 
letter of the 23d ultimo, and a statement of your advances to Colonel Ogden. 

(Signed) " LEVI WOODBURY." 

The reader, who is unsophisticated in the mysterious devices and hardy resources of an 
iron-willed, irresponsible, party Executive, or rather President of a faction, would ration- 
ally conclude that Mr. Linn's dismissal must now be forthcoming, of course. No such 
thing; on the contrary, the next thing that followed (only two months after, at the expira- 
tion of his term,) was the annunciation of his reappointment by President Jackson, as an 
"evidence of the President's regard," in a letter of the 12th February, 1835. The read- 
der may now well guess what followed in due season ; nothing more nor less than con- 
tinued remonstrances of the same kind, until Mr. Linn saw fit to send in his resignation 
of office, having secured a defalcation in hand of $55,962 OG. A resignation is always 
considered an honorable withdrawal from office, if accepted ; but when the circumstances 
of misconduct forbid such an admission, the resignation is not accepted, but a dismissal 
takes its place. In this case there was no dismissal, but the resignation was accepted by 
President Van Buren, which emblazoned it as an honorable retirement from office, with 
fifty-five thousand dollars of the public money in hand ! Yet, to the public ear, Mr. Van 
Buren has sounded a different note on this very subject of defaulters, by recommending the 
penitentiary as their abode — though on another, and more recent occasion (his message of 
last December) he has pronounced this criminal desecration of public money by individuals, 
in violation of law, as more excusable and proper than the use of it by corporate institu- 
tions, receiving it on deposite, with the legal permission to use it under certain restrictions, 
the which opinion will, doubtless, be deemed good authority for sub-treasurers to quote here- 
after. I subjoin the letter accepting this resignation, as a curiosity of its kind : 

" Treasury Department, January 26, 1838. 

i: Sir : Your letter of the 7th instant is received, and your resignation is accepted by the President. I re- 
gret that so large a balance stands un-adjusled in your hands, and trust [trust, after four years successful 
practice in the arts of a defaulter, repeatedly threatened with dismissal, therefor to no avail, and reappointed 
in the meantime, as a reward, trust indeed .'] that certificates of deposite, for the amount with the Bank of 
Missouri, will, without delay, be forwarded here. [It would have been just as rational to have written to 
him to keep the money.] (Signed) " LEVI WOODBURY." 

" Wm. Linn, Esq, , Fandulia." 

Though it is sickening to dwell upon this disgusting subject of parti/ corruption, I shall 
not leave it without giving a list of the principal defalcations that commenced, and went on 
geometrically increasing yearly, from the beginning to the end of Jackson's Administra- 
tion, thrusting with accelerated impetus into that of Van Buren, and perhaps yet unabated ; 
but which were, for the most part, successfully concealed from the public, till the great 
desideratum of the "spoils," under the guise of " democratic principles," was accom- 
plished by the election of the favorite xomixek of the GREAT IRRESPONSIBLE ! 

List of the principal defaulters from 1829 to 1839. 

A. W. McDaniel, Washington, Mi., 1830- - - - $ 8,128 

W. L. D. Ewing, Vandalia, II., 1830 - 16,754 

G. B. Crutcher, Choctaw, Mi., 1832 - - - - - 6,061 

D. L. Todd, Opelousas, La., 1832 ..... 15,095 

John Hays, Jackson, Mi., 1834 .--.._ 1,386 

G. B. Dameron,* Choctaw, Mi., 1834 - 39,059 



* By looking at and comparing the repetition of defaults perpetrated at the same land offices by succes- 
sive receivers, it will be perceived how contagious that convenient pledge had become, of "following in 
the footsteps of their illustrious predecessors."" But as my purpose here is to make a remark or two in re- 
lation to another matter connected with Mr. Dameron's official conduct, who had so soon followed the foot- 
steps of his predecessor, and set the like example for the adoption of his own successor, I shall say no 
more on those parallels. 

This Mr. Dameron had a partner in iniquity in no less a personaee than the far famed Samuel Gwynn 



71 

W. M. Green, Palmy ria, Mo., 1835 - - - - $2,312 

Joseph Friend, Washita, La., 1835 - - - - - 2,551 

Wiley P. Harris, Columbus, Mi., 1835 - - - - 109,178 

L. Hawkins, Helena, Ark., 1835 -----. 115,462 

A. McCarty, Indianapolis, In., 1836 - ... 2,461 

B. S. Chambers, Little Rock, Ark., 1S36 - - - - - 2,146 
M. Cannon, New Orleans, La., 1836 - 1,376 
Wm. H. Allen, St. Augustine, Fa., 1836 ----- 1,997 
John H. Owen, St. Stephens, Al., 1836 ----- 30,600 
William Taylor, Cahawba, Ai., 1836 - 23,116 
Richard K. Call, Tallahassee, Fa., 1836 ----- 43,498 
B. R. Rogers, Opelouwas, La., 1837 ----- 6,624 
S. W. Dickson, Choctaw, Mi., 1837 - 12,229 
U. G. Mitchell, Cahawba, Al., 1837 ----- 54^626 
J. W. Stevenson, Galena, II., 1837 ----- 74,859 
Benjamin F. Edwards, Edwardsville, II., 1837 - 7,421 
T. W. Beall, Green Bay, Mich., 1837 ----- 36,097 
R. H. Sterling, Chocchuma, Mi., 1S37 ---.._ 11,762 
G. D. Boyd, Columbus, Mi., 1837 - 60,198 
G. W. Owen, Mobile, Al., 1838 ------ 11,173 

A. S. Thruston, Key West, Fa., 1838 - - - - - 2,822 
J. T. Canby, Crawfordsville, In., 1838 - - - - - 39,013 
P. Childress, Greenburg, La., 1838 - 12,449 

B. T. Brown, Springfield, Mo., 1838 ----- 3,600 

William Linn, Vandalia, II., 1838 ------ 55,962 

S. Y. Scott, Jackson, Mi., 1838 - - - - 12,550 

J. L. Daniel, Opelousas, La., 1838 - 7,290 

S. T. Pollock, Crawfordsville, In., 1838 ----- 14,890 



then register of land purchases in the same office where Danieron was receiver. These gentlemen very soon 
after their appointment to these responsbie offices, which are contemplated by law to be checks on each 
other, established a privileged corporation, of Dameron and Gwynn, to monopolize the swindling and shaving 
of land purchasers in various ways, of which one was to take their notes at six months, for one hundred 
per cent, advance on the price of lands entered, and pocketing the excess, instead of receiving cash pay- 
ments for the lands according to law, without additional charge. This practice was clearly proved asain'st 
this and other land districts, by the report (No. 73) of the Senate's committee in 1834, "already quoted, 
page 53. The notes were generally taken by Gwynu and Dameron, as a company, practically accordiii"- 
with the Locofoco doctrine that all'corporotions should be self-created. 

Now mark — the senior partner of this firm was no other than the Mr. Gwynn lately referred to in an 
elaborate " appendix to democratic address," in the Richmond Enquirer of the 12th instant, (March,) as 
th 3 political confessor of Mr. Van Buren, on the subject of slavery, in 1834. to prove he was " a Northern 
man with Southern feelings." The same Mr. Gwyhn was also the highly favored correspondent of Mr. 
Ritchie of the Enquirer, in 1S31 or '32, in an effort to vindicate Genl. Jackson's invasion of Florida, under 
the administration of Mr. Monroe, when Mr. Calhoun was Secretary of War, and which had, in 1830, been 
made an occasion, by Mr. Van Buren. for a breach between Genl. Jackson and Mr. Calhoun, in order to 
create political capital for the arch intriguer, with consequent injuries to Mr. Monroe and Mr. Crawford ; all 
of which had been allowed to lay low until Mr. Calhoun had served out his apprenticeship in the election 
campaign for Genl. Jackson, when he was dpstined to Vie turned over to the bloodhounds of the Van Buren 
party to devour : how these personages have reconciled these things, since, is anoihpr matter. 

The same Mr. Gwynn was a great favorite, and no doubt a " strictly confidential" friend, of Genl. Jack- 
son, who commissioned him as register of the land office at Mount Salus, in the afore said Choctaw district, 
Mississippi, on the 1st October, 1S31 ; and, anticipating his rejection, withheld his nomination to the Senate 
till the last of the next session of Congress, when he was rejected accordingly. Immediately after the 
adjournment he was commissioned a second time, on the 21st July, 1832, by Genl. Jackson, for the same 
office ; and his nomination withheld, as before, till the last of the next session, when he was again rejected, 
on the 2d March, 1833. But this was not enough for an iron-willed President, who had a friend like Gwynn 
to stick to through thick and thin, though he break down the constitutional check of the Senate. So,'' go 
ahead hard head.' was not inapplicable in this case, and Gwynn was, for the third time, commissioned, im- 
mediately after the adjournment ; and his nomination was again withheld, till the last of the next session ; 
when, in consequence of an intimation from Genl. Jackson to a Senator, that, if Gwynn were again reject- 
ed, he would close the land office at Mount Salus, his nomination v:as agreed to ! 

No doubt Genl. Jackson had strong political reasons for thus outraging the Senate in his adhesions to 
Gwynn ; for which Gwynn demonstrated a gratitude worthy of better men, to the cost of his life, in a politi- 
cal quarrel shortly after. But whether Gwynn's communications to Mr. Ritchie of the Richmond 
Enquirer, and to Mr. Van Buren, and Mr. Van Buren's answer to him, were concocted between Genl. 
Jacks m and Mr. Van Buren, for electioneering eft" ct, with Kendall's fingers to mould and touch them, or 
not, is perfectly immaterial to establish the official electioneering character of them, as it can be easily 
proved by numberless witnesses, that they are in character with a general system of the same sort of elec- 
tioneering drill, that has been ihdefatigably practised by the Executive, ever since Genl. Jackson came 
into office, and of which Kendall is the demon spirit: it is equally certain that in all the disastrous and 
revolutionary measuses of both Presidents, Kendall has bf en the acting President of the United States for 
12 years, the personazes elect having been but nominal incumbents, under whose names his fancies have 
been clandestinely imposed upon a much-abused and too confiding public. 



Morgan Neville, Cincinnati, O., 1838 ----- $13,781 

M. J. Allen, Tallahassee, Fa., J.838 - - - 26,691 

Samuel Swartwout, New York, 1838 ----- 1,225,705 

William M. Price, New York, 1838 - - - 72,124 

Gen. N. Smith, Macon, 1839 - • - - - - 100,000 

Abraham Bird, Palmyra, Mo., 1839 - 17,000 

This list, with the omission of a great many smaller sums, still exceeds two and a quar- 
ter millions of dollars of the public money embezzled by public officers ; besides which, 
there has been, since the official reports of these cases, a considerable number of other de- 
falcations brought to light, that would probably make an aggregate very little short ot 
three millions. 

It may seem to be an act of injustice to some few of the persons in the above list, who 
have, under process of law or voluntary settlement, since reduced or refunded the sums due 
to the Government, still to be included among other defaulters. But, in my apprehension, 
there is no other difference in their cases than that of having the ability, under necessity, 
or penitent inclination, to pay, on the one part; and that of the want of the ability, under 
necessity, whether inclined or not, to pay, on the other part. The defalcation consists in 
the embezzlement and application of public money to private use, in the first instance. 
Whatever becomes of it afterwards, in the prosecution of justice, is another affair, that 
may or may not result in settlement, and surely not in converting the immorality of the 
first wrong into a merit, though it may be forgiven, under favor of penitence, in Heaven. 

Without going further into these particulars, it is now sufficiently manifest that most of 
these defalcations with those of thousands of postmasters, and bonuses in the form of extras paid 
to electioneering mail contractors, constitute apart of that extensive machinery {the main- 
spring being located at Washington) ey which the election of Martin Yak Bums 
was accomplished : A DEAR-BOUGHT PRESIDENT INDEED ! if we were also to 
include in the estimate the uncounted millions of those incidental costs to a ruined com- 
merce, and general prostration of business, with the bankrupt institutions and morals of 
public men ,- leaving the country in a poor condition for the encounter of a foreign war, 
which, no doubt, would be gladly incurred at the present crisis, to effect a political 
diversion at all hazzarss. Universal echo says, " a dear bought President /" But, 
however dear those costs, yet I should deem them not too dear if they lead to the establish- 
ment of one teioi fou the Presidexcy hereafter, whereby it is certain all these evils 
that flow solely from Executive electioneering, will be prevented, and the country saved 
from the revolution that now imminently threatens her: but if not, then a dear bought 
President may lead to the purchase of a still DEARER BOUGHT MONARCH! 

Indeed, the most gloomy portraiture of public affairs that could be drawn would be no 
fancy sketch ; on the contrary, it would be the true impress of the sentiments of many of 
the most patriotic hearts; and I have the evidence at hand, that such despondency and 
grief has been sincerely entertained by a venerable patriot and philanthropist, expressed as 
a voice from the grave, in the last moments of his earthly career of an active, useful, and 
benevolent life. After taking a melancholy survey, in frequent conversations with me 
during the last summer, in Philadelphia, of the astounding developments of frauds and 
Executive misrule, the exemplary, beloved, and regretted Mathew Carey, in a letter of the 
30th August last, a few days before his demise, gave vent to his feelings in the following 
impressive strain: 

"I am greatly below par. I am fearful that the state of the country is hopeless. Pub- 
" lie morals are at the lowest ebb: and private share a portion of the same fate. Regard 
"for self appears to be the predominant feeling: ' Every man for myself,' as the Dutch- 
" man said when he had seized all he could lay his hands on. Prospects have heretofore 
" been very gloomy, perhaps almost as gloomy in some points of view as at present — but 
" we could, always heretofore, see 'a little cherub smiling aloft' to cheer us on our way ; 
" but no telescope can enable us to see * a cherub aloft" at present.' 

But since the Harrisburg nomination has been received with such universal, such en- 
thusiastic rejoicing, who can say he has not again seen "a little cherub smiling aloft" to 
cheer us on our way ! Indeed, I could wish it had been consonant with the will of Pro- 
vidence to have permitted that good and benevolent man to dwell a few months longer with 
us, that he, too, might participate in the general joy that now thrills every true republi- 
can's breast at the certain prospects of repreof from the People, despatched to their present 
faithless stewards, on the 4th or March next, by the hands of the upright ANn 
faithful WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON! 



73 

Additional note on page 36. 

[" The malign and revolutionary object of destroying all our institutions, State and 
Federal, with the obvious ulterior view to spoliations and plunder, secretly cherished by 
that clandestine and irresponsible adviser of the President," &c] 

Having in a note, page 43, quoted a passage from a speech of the Hon. C. Cushing, 
on the rejection, by the Jackson party in the Senate in 1828'-29, of a nomination to fill a 
vacancy on the bench of the Supreme Court, as an evidence of the commencement of the 
spoils, preceded by another passage from the same speech, showing the direful consequen- 
ces that were following in the train of that small beginning ; and having, presently after, 
page 44, adverted to the final object of the jacobin faction, sought to be consummated by 
means of those spoils, desecrated under Jackson's popular influence ; I cannot now more 
appropriately demonstrate the connexion that the clandestine jacobin operatives have been 
working out, through a series of years, between that small unsuspected beginning, and 
the consummation of all their desires, now just tantalizing their itching palms, in concen- 
trating the whole public treasure in the executive keeping, so that they may have the sinews, 
the sword, and all the munitions of war in their exclusive control, than by inviting the 
attention of the reader to a few extracts from the " Narrative and Correspondence concern- 
ing the Removal of the Deposites, and occurences connected therewith, by Wm. J. Duane," 
late Secrteary of the Treasury, in which he gives an account of the clandestine influence of 
persons at Washington, (Kendall, Whitney & Co.) in fabricating and putting the whole 
of this machinery in operation, in despite of the President's constitutional council of cabinet 
officers. By these extracts, it will also be seen, that General Jackson's fidelity, veracity, 
and sincerity have been deeply impugned, in sundry instances, by his own admissions, 
by the statements of R. M. Whitney, Esq., and by various incontestable facts contrasted 
by Mr. Duane, to that effect, and with which his book everywhere abounds; as well as 
with evidences of the most flagitious efforts to bribe, to coax, and to intimidate him (the 
Secretary) into a compliance with the President's schemes of wicked ambition and "lust- 
ful spirit of domination," against the united authority of Congress and of the Judiciary. 
Regretting that I cannot devote a larger space to extracts from that precious and rare doc- 
ument, the reader must be content with the following, viz : 

1st. Extract from Duane's Narrative, page 5. 

"Although changes in the cabinet had been thus provided for, [ever since the December 
'•' previous] they were not made until May, 1833. My commission bore the date of the 
" 29th of that month, and on the 30th I reached Washington. After waiting upon the 
" President on the next day, I went to the Treasury Department, and took the oath of office 
" on the 1st of June. On the evening of that day, Mr. Reuben M. Whitney called upon 
" me at my lodgings, at the desire, he said, of the President, to make known to me what 
" had been done, and what was contemplated, in relation to the U. S. Bank. He stated, 
" that the President had concluded to take upon himself the responsibility of directing the 
" Secretary of the Treasury to remove the public deposites from that bank, and to trans- 
" fer them to State banks; that he had asked the members of the cabinet to give him their 
" opinions on the subject; that the President had said, ' Mr. Taney and Mr. Barry had 
" come out like men for the removal;' that Mr. McLane had given a long opinion against 
'•' it ; that Mr. Cass was supposed to be against it, but had given no written opinion ; and 
" that Mr. Woodbury had given an opinion which was 'yes' and 'no;' that the President 
" would make the act his own, by addressing a paper or order to the Secretary of the 
"Treasury; that Mr. Amos Kendall, who was high in the President's confidence, was 
" now preparing that paper ; that there had been delay, owing to the affair at Alexandria ; 
' [Lieutenant Randolph's assault on the President] but, no doubt, the President would 
" soon speak to me on the subject; that the paper referred to, would be put forth as the 
" Proclamation had been, and would be made a rallying point; that he (Mr. Whitney) 
" had, at the desire of the President, drawn up a memoir or exposition, showing that the 
" measure might be safely adopted, and that the State banks would be fully adequate to 
" all the purposes of Government. He then read the exposition to me; and, as I desired 
" to understand matters so important and so singularly presented, I asked him to leave the 
" paper with me, which he accordingly did. He also read to me divers letters from indi- 
" viduais connected with State banks. The drift of his further observations was to satisfy 
" me, that the Executive arm alone could be relied on, to prevent a renewal of the U. S. 
" Bank charter. 

" The communication thus made to me created surprise and mortification. I was sur- 
*' prised at the position of affairs which it revealed; and mortified at the low estimate 
«' which had been formed of the independence of my character. I listened, however, re- 

6 



74 

1 spectfully, to one who gave such evidence of the confidence reposed in him ,- and await' 
1 ed the explanation, which he intimated the President would give. 

" Soon after this interview, I took occasion to express my mortification at my position, 
1 to the member of the cabinet who had represented the President in asking me to ac- 
' cept office. 

" On the next evening (Sunday) Mr. Whitney again called on me, in company with a 
'stranger, whom he introduced as Mr. Amos Kendall, a gentleman in ihe Presidents 
' confidence, who would give me any further explanations, that I might desire, as to what 
' was meditated hi relation to the U. S. Bank, and who then called on me, because he 
' was about to proceed forthwith to Baltimore. I did not invite, nor check, communi- 
' cation. Very little was said, and perhaps because I could not wholly conceal my mor- 
' tification at an attempt, apparently made with the sanction of the President, to reduce 

* me to a mere cipher in the Administration. 

"The next morning, June 3, I waited upon the President, and, as 1 had been uppri- 
' zed by Mr. Whitney vjould be the case, he soon introduced the subject of the bank. I 
' stated that Mr. Whitney had made known to me what had been done, and what was 
' intended, and had intimated that his communication was made at the President's desire. 
' The President replied, in a tone of dissatisfaction, that it was true he had conferred ivith 
1 Mr. Whitney, and obtained information from him as to the bank, but that he did not 
' make him his confidant, nor had he told him to call on me.* I enumerated the repre- 
' sentations which Mr. Whitney had made, and their correctness was admitted. I said, 
' I feared that I should not be able to see the subject in the light which the Prssident 
' viewed it; to which he remarked, that he liked frankness; that my predecessor and him- 
' self had sometimes differed in opinion, but it had made no difference in feeling, and 
' should not in my case ;" that the matter under consideration was of vast consequence to 
' the country ; that unless the bank was brokeri down, it would break us down ,■ that if 
' the last Congress had remained a week longer in session, two-thirds ivould have been 

* secured for the bank by corrupt means ,• and that the like result might be apprehended 
' at the next Congress ; that such a State bank agency must be put in operation, before 
' the meeting of Congress, as would show that the United States bank was not necessary,, 
' and thus some members would have no excuse for voting for it. My suggestions as to 
1 an inquiry by Congress, as in December, 1832, or a recourse to the Judiciary, the 
' President repelled, saying it would be idle to rely upon either ; referring, as to the Ju- 
' diciary, to decisions already made, as indications of what would b: the effect of an ap- 
' peal_to them in future. 

" After mentioning that he would speak to me again, before his departure to the east- 
' ward, the President said, he would take with him the opinions of the members of the 
' cabinet, but would send them to me from New York, along with his views,- and, on his 
' return, would expect me to give him my sentiments frankly and fully. On the 5th of 
1 June, the day before his departure, we accordingly had another conversation, which he 
' ended by saying, he did not wish any one to conceal his opinions, and that all he asked 
' was, that I should reflect with a view to the public good. 

" I had heard rumors of the existence of an influence at Washington, unknown to the 
' constitution and to the country ,■ and the conviction, that they were well-founded, now 
' became irresistible. I knew that four of the six members of the last cabinet, and that 

* four of the six members of the present cabinet, opposed a removal of the depositee ; and 
' yet their exertions were nullified by individuals, whose intercourse with the President 
' was clandestine. During his absence, several of those individuals called on me, and 

* made many of the identical observations, in the identical language, used by himself. 
4 They represented Congress as corruptible, and the new members as in need of special 
'guidance. They pointed out the importance of a test question, at the opening of the new 
' Congress, for party purposes. They argued, that the exercise of the veto power 
' must be secured ; that it could be in no other way so effectually attained as by at once 
1 removing the deposites ,■ and that, unless they were removed, the President would be 

* thwarted by Congress. In short, I felt satisfied, from all that I saw and heard, that 



* " Who is correct, the President or Mr. Whitney ? The latter alleged that he possessed the confi 
dence of the President; and, as an evidence, detailed the circumstances, mentioned in the text. The Pres 
ident denied that Mr. Whitney was his confidant, yet admitted the accuracy of his representations. While 
he was in Baltimore, on the 6lh or 7th of June, the President related to Mr. Whitney what had passed be- 
tween us on the 3d : so, at least, said Mr. Whitney, and I think truly, lor he repeatea to me what actually 
had been said, by the President and myself, in the conversation referred to. The following letter will giv<* 
further aid in deciding the question." [Letter of Whitney, detailing other confidential matters deciding the 
question of veracity, omitted.] 



75 

"factious and selfish views alone guided those who had influence with ihe Executive ; 
" and that the true welfare and honor of the country constituted no part of their objects. 

" I was painfuliy impressed with these convictions, and also mortilied that I should have 
"been considered capable of entering into schemes like these ; when, on the 1st of July, I 
'« received from the President, the letter and views, embraced in the next chapter." 
2d. Extract from the same, page 98. 

" As soon as the occurences alluded to in the eighth chapter took place, my confidence 
"in the sincerity of the President began to waver. It appeared to me, that, although 
" my retirement, in a manner not dissatisfactory to myself, might be aimed at ; means 
" were taken, at the same time, to prevent clamor at my expulsion from office, should that 
"take place. With the latter object, I was assailed simultaneously in the semi-official 
"newspapers, at Concord, Boston, Albany, New York, Trenton, and Cincinnati, espe- 
" cially ; and it was at the same time intimated to me, that the agent to the State hanks 
" [Kendall] had stimulated such attacks. As I had not tangible evidence on the latter 
" point, I was not disposed to make a specific appeal to the President about it. Never- 
"theless, utter silence seemed to be improper, and to favor the views of his clandestine 
" associates." 

3d. Extract from the same, page 113. 

"The concluding letter, in the preceding chapter, terminated all intercourse whatever, 
" between the President and myself. Within the five years, which have intervened, I 
"have often read the foregoing correspondence; truly inclined to discover any error of 
" fact or temper, and to avow the discovery, if made. The result, invariably, has been, a 
" persuasion that no just cause of complaint existed. No attempt has been made to con- 
" fute any of my statements; and, as to my conduct, the preceding letters manifest any 
" thing rather than disrespect for the Executive. If I offended at all, it was against my- 
" self. The tone of my communications, instead of being excusably indignant, was inex- 
" cusably deprecatory. 

" I remained at Washington until the 27th of September. In the early part of that 
"day, as I was preparing for my intended departure, about noon, I was informed that I 
" had been assailed in the official paper. Supposing this to be the case, I wrote a parting 
" letter to the President's secretary, which I hoped might check the course of impending 
"proscription. Nothing was more remote from my inclination than to 'come out' against 
" the President, as he termed it, at our last interview. My long silence, under aspersion 
" on one side, and amidst demands for explanation on the other, proved my sincerity in 
" this respect. The only anticipation which I entertained was, that there would be an 
" official inquiry ,■ and, until then, I resolved to rest upon my personal reputation and 
" official acts. 

" The letter which I thus wrote to the President's secretary, was left in the care of a 
" friend, to be presented or sent to him ; and, as soon as I had thus disposed of it, I left 
" Washington. To my surprise, I received an acknowledgment of it, a few days after- 
" wards; an acknowledgment of such a character, that I at once wrote a commentary upon 
"it. I was Impressed with a belief, that the reply had been prepared by Mr. Kendall, at 
"the desire of the President; and that it ought not to be regarded as the personal act of 
" Mr. Donelson." 

4th. Extract from the same, page 119. 

" It is said, in the next place, that, among my reasons for refusing to remove the dopos- 
" ites, there were several which were calculated to impugn the motives of those who dif- 
" fered from me. The reasons alluded to are these: 

" Because, I believe that the efforts, made in various quarters, to hasten the removal of the deposites, did 
not originate with patriots or statesmen, but in schemes to promote factious and selfish purposes. 

" Because, it has been attempted by persons and presses, known to be in the confidence and nay of the 
administration, to intimidate and constrain the Secretary of the Treasury, to execute an act in direct con- 
tradiction to his solemn convictions." 

" These and my other reasons for refusing to remove the deposites, were not hastily 
"formed or wantonly uttered. My confidence in their soundness rested upon a mass of 
" circumstances. The President himself could give negative evidence. What patriot or 
"statesman, or even disinterested person, urged him to remove the deposites ? Were the 
" only patriots or statesmen of the country to be found in the banks and clubs at Boston, 
"Albany, New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore] Did a few individuals at Wash- 
" ington represent the public virtue or private disinterestedness of the Union 1 ThePres- 
" ident was exceedingly anxious to have at least a majority of the cabinet with him; and, 
" to gain that object, would undoubtedly have told them, if ant patriots or statesmen 
" sustained his course. To my knowledge, no such support loas ever giv.n, or appealed 
" to For my own part, I confidently assert, that of the many persons who wrote and 



76 

" spoke to me on the subject, there was not one, whose zeal could not be fairly traced to 
" the spirit of faction or of speculation. My belief on this point, therefore, was not fac- 
" titious or voluntary, but absolute and inevitable. 

" With power to send for persons and papers, I am satisfied that I could establish the 
" existence of a conspiracy to drive me from office, and to cast suspicion around my con- 
" duct, in order to excuse that outrage. The file of the official paper itself is testimony 
** in point. The simultaneous attacks made upon me, in eastern, northern, and western 
*' newspapers, sustain my belief. The paragraphs in them were so nearly identical in 
" drift and phraseology, that they could not have been spontaneous or indigenous. I have 
" no doubt whatever of their origin at. Washington. 

" The reasons referred to, therefore, had much to do with the merits of the question. I 
" had a right, I was bound, to avow my dispassionate belief; and I am quite at a loss to 
" conceive, why the President whose motives I did not call in question, should identify 
"himself with individuals who should be permitted to rely on their own acts and rep- 
" utation." 

!5th. Extract from the same, page 133. 

" The truth is, I consider the President intoxicated with power and flattery. ' Con- 
" stant dropping wears away stones.' Why, indeed, should we be surprised, that he bent 
" under the influence of such passions, as, in ancient and modern times, overcame men 
" greater by nature and education than he is. It is the fact, that men change, that makes 
" a republic preferable to a monarchy. Washington and Jefferson would not trust them- 
" selves with power longer than eight years. General Jackson was, at one time, so fear- 
" ful of the influence of power and passion upon himself, that he was in favor of limiting 
" service in the Presidency to four years ! But what a revolution do we behold ! now he 
" is not only content to retain power for eight years, but desirous to transfer it to a favor- 
"ite! Such is the effect of power and flattery ! Are you amazed 1 I am not ; the matter 
" is easily explained. When he came into office, the President supposed that he would 
"find much purity at Washington, especially among his supporters, who had been ma- 
" king so many professions. Instead of that, he found the leaders at the heads of factions, 
" each desiring to drive the coach of state. He found his tables groaning under the weight 
" of petitions for offices. He saw several of the late friends of his competitor, standing, 
" with caps in hand, to catch the falling crumbs. He heard adulation from every body, 
" plain truth from nobody. He came into office to be the friend of the whole people, but 
" he became the mere purveyor for the hungry expectants of discordant factions. In 
" short, all the circumstances around him were calculated to make him entertain an exalt- 
" ed opinion of himself, and a contemptuous one of others. His own natural passions 
" contributed to this result. Such is my explanation— my apology, if you please. He is 
" changed, or else we knew him not." 
6th. Extract from the same, page 140. 

" A faction, and not a party, now rule our country : devotion to a man has been substi- 
" tuted for love of liberty: the ruling faction intend, by using the fame of General Jack- 
• " son, and the money of the people, to perpetuate their power. So that I am not sur- 
prised, that, in Virginia especially, where base passions have never predominated in 
" public affairs, all minor considerations should be merged in a holy anxiety for the pre- 
" servation of those institutions, upon which our own prosperity, and that of our posterity, 
"depends." 

7th. Extract from the same, page 143. 

" I rejoice that Pennsylvania begins to feel, as she should do, at a crisis like the pres- 
"ent; and I shall be proud indeed to see her again the ally of Virginia, that patriotic 
" State, which has ever been gallantly in the van, when the liberties of the people have 
« ' been in danger. Let us trust that she will prefer a co-operation for honor, to be gain- 
" ed in saving the republic, to a combination for 'spoils' to be wrung from the people as 
"tokens of their degradation." 

But had it constituted any part of Mr. Duane's purpose to enter into researches beyond 
" the narrative and correspondence concerning the removal of the deposites," in which he 
was called on by the President to be the instrument, he could have traced the insidious 
causes by which that measure was finally brought about, to their origin early in the first 
year of General Jackson's administration, as manifested by the correspondence of certain 
members of the same " clandestine" faction, addressed to the Secretary of the Treasury, 
first, with a view to convert the United States Bank into a political engine for the admin- 
istration, by making false complaints of its party character against it, and, secondly, to 
procure the removal of the pension fund and agency from the branches of the said bank, 
upon the first proposition being resisted and the complaints refuted as a party calumny. 



77 

The correspondence commenced in the names of the political Siamese, Isaac Hill and 
Levi Woodbury, of mock democratic memory — Kendall, the well known chief of the fac- 
tion, having the artifice to keep his name concealed for maturer operations : for, that he 
had a hand in those counsels is obvious, from a remark of Mr. Ingham, who states the 
fact, in his letter to the president of the bank, conveying the letters of Mr. Hill and Mr. 
Woodbury, that several complaints of the same kind had already been made to him, call- 
ing for the exercise of his authority in like manner in Kentucky and elsewhere. Now, in 
order to lay a proper estimate on the comprehensiveness of these operations as originating 
at Washington, it is sufficient to note the remarkable coincidence of the sections of coun- 
try in which they are put in motion, (the former residences, of Isaac, Amos, and Levi,) 
and to trace the footsteps of the same personages in their subsequent operations on the finan- 
cial agencies and resources of the country. The same correspondence shows that the 
pension funds were illegally removed shortly after by Major Eaton, Secretary of War, and 
reputed coadjutor of the faction. These facts are the more important, at the present mo- 
ment, as they show the early existence of efforts gotten up under the patronage of the 
Executive, to grasp and appropriate the moneyed power for political electioneering pur- 
poses, to which their disastrous consequences impart a consideration, now, that they did 
not at first receive. This correspondence, of which it is impossible to give an adequate 
sketch here, may be seen in full, in the report of the Committee of Ways and Means, on 
the affairs of the bank, made to Congress the 30th April, 1832, and in the appendix of 
" Sketches on Finance," published by the undersigned in 1837. 

Finally, if any thing were wanting to make the iniquity, the treachery, the premeditated 
frauds and double dealing, displayed by the foregoing fragments of Jacksonism, more com- 
plete than they are demonstrated to be in all their congregated enormity, wicked depravity, 
and unparalleled boldness, it would be found in the means resorted to in the finale of the 
catalogue, to persuade, to coerce, to bribe, and to intimidate Mr. Duane into the consum- 
mation of the magnificent villany of plundering the Treasury ! Referring the reader to 
Mr. Duane's narrative, in general, I shall only invite his attention, here, to a short ex- 
tract, as a curiosity of its kind, from General Jackson's familiar and endearing letter from 
Boston, accompanying his official paper of the same date, (page 12, chapter 2, of the 
Narrative,) viz : 

"Boston, June 26, 1833. 
" W. J. Dcabte, Secretary of the Treasury: 

"Mi Dear Sin : I send you herewith a paper, containing my views upon the subject 
" of a discontinuance of Government deposites in the Bank of the United States, and the 
" substitution of certain State banks as the fiscal agents of the United States, so far as 
" those duties are now performed by that institution. 

" The only difficulty, I have for some time had upon the subject, has been, as it respects 
" the time, when this change should commence. Upon a careful review of the subject, 
" in all its bearings, I have come to the conclusion that it ought to be done as soon as we 
" can get ready, and at furthest, by the 1st or 15th of September next, so that we may 
" have it in our power to present the new system to Congress, in complete and successful 
" operation at the commencement of the session" — [according to the requirement of the 
constitution, " to report the state of the Union, and to suggest measures," as he under- 
stands it, perhaps !] 

"In furtherance of this object, it is in my opinion desirable, that you should appoint a 
" discreet agent [Amos] to proceed forthwith, with proper credentials from your Depart- 
" ment, to the cities of Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston, to consult with 
" presidents and directors of State banks, in those cities, upon the practicability of making 
" an arrangement with them, or some of them, upon something like the following terms, 
" viz :" * * * * [after giving the terms he would prescribe, in detail, he concludes with 
this extraordinary paragraph, in which he recognises the illegality of the very interference 
he is now practising, and endeavors to persuade the Secretary to perjure himself by adopt- 
ing it upon oath (all official reports of sworn officers are necessarily on oath*) as his own: 
a measure, with reasons for it, set forth, nevertheless, in the same letter and accompanying 
paper as the President's, as if the proposed lie of the Secretary and the actual lie of the 
President would, in their union, neutralize each other's virus, and become an innocent 
compound, upon the chemical principle of double elective attraction — a science, from which 
he has unconsciously perpetrated this unique figure, of which he knows nothing, and there- 
fore refers the entire claim for its extraordinary originality to his unrivaled powers and re- 
sources, in the art of counterfeiting the truth, without the aid of science, or the restraints 
of moral education!] » 

"In making to you, my dear sir, this frank and explicit avowal of my opinions and 



78 

" feelings it is not my intention to interfere with the independent exercise of the discretion 
" committed to you, by law, over the subject. I have thought it, however, due to you, 
" under the circumstances, to place before you, with this restriction, my sentiments upon 
" the subject, to the end that you may, upon my responsibility, allow them to enter into 
" vour decision upon the subject, and into any future exposition of it, as far as you may 
" deem it proper. 

" I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your most obedient servant and friend, 

"ANDREW JACKSON." 

Now let us hear what Mr. Duane says about this letter — see Narrative, page 37, viz : 

" Before I received the views of the Executive, or the opinions of the ministers, I had 
" felt embarrassment," &c. "When, however, I read the concluding passage of his let- 
" ter from Boston, my anxiety was, in a great measure, if not altogether, removed. If 
" he meant any thing, I concluded that the President concurred in the view, of the 16th 
" section of the charter, which I was disposed to take; namely, that, in passing it, Con- 
" gress had exercised its constitutional right, to regulate the conduct of the head of the 
" Treasury Department, in relation to the care and custody of the public treasure. I 
" supposed he admitted that the Secretary of the Treasury, representing the constitutional 
" guardians of the public purse, had an exclusive right, under their control, to remove or 
" not to remove, the public deposites; and that he now pledged himself not to interfere," &c. 

But Mr. Duane had not yet learnt the unbounded treachery of those he had to deal 
with ; his security, therefore, and that of the public treasure, were entirely deceptive, from 
a mistaken reliance on the solemn pledge of one whose trade was to make promises for 
effect, and break them at convenience. Under this false security, Mr. Duane was decoy- 
ed, step by step, through all the preparatory arrangements, to the verge of the very last 
step, thinking it would be practicable there to stop, as he did, by refusing to take that step, 
which he could not approve, and for which he alone would be answerable to Congress and 
the nation. At this conjuncture, the next thing in course was, for the President to resort 
to his accustomed manoeuvre, to solicit Mr. Duane to accept an honorable exile, as a pal- 
pable bribe to put him out of the way of selecting a Secretary of the Treasury who would 
be pledged before hand to do his bidding. Accordingly, the woili being done — after the 
peremptory dismissal of Mr. Duane because his sense of honor forbad him either to make 
the removal or accept the bribe to resign, and the appointment of Mr. Taney in his stead 
because he had given a written opinion, pledging himself in favor of the removal — the 
President, in his next annual message to Congress, practises a moral perjury, to say the 
least of it, by stating that the Secretary of the Treasury had done the very deed which he 
himself had boastfully assumed the responsibility to do, through a long and tortuous pro- 
cess of a thousand devices, shifts, and prevarications ! 

Ijj conclusion, from the foregoing fragments of evidence appertaining to the exuberant 
official corruption patronised and concealed by Andrew Jackson, and going to impugn his 
veracity and integrity through the whole course of his administration, I freely submit it to 
the decision of an intelligent, ingenuous, and dispassionate public, what degree of credibil- 
ity is due to a mere surmise of his, (asumed as the foundation of a pretended ' ' belief, ") made 
under circumstances of manifest personal resentment to me, and in defiance of the palpable- 
physical impracticability and moral absurdity which environ it and set it at naught, besides 
the multiplicity of documentary facts contradictory to all the specifications of his affidavit' 1 

ROBERT MAYO. 

Washington, April, 1840. 



* It is greatly to be deplored that this disregard of the solemn obligations of truth should have become 
so contagious among high executive officers as it obviously has of late years. i>!o one can deny that every 
communication or report from a sworn officer, is, necessarily, under the impress and the sanctity of his 
official oath ! Yet I could point out some scores of falsehoods in Executive and other official communica- 
tions made to Congress within a few years past ! ! \ 



CONTENTS. 



[Fragments of Jackson ism.] 



Page. 

Trie advertisement to the third edition of this 
pamphlet discusses the subject of public inter- 
est in all matters of calumny, by whomsoever 
perpetrated— see the back of title. 

The Author's letter to General Jackson, in Dec, 
1830, (see appendix, [A,]) respecting Houston's 
conspiracy against Mexico, returned to him by 
the President's messenger, in 1636, with a copy 
of the President's letter to Fulton, filed and en- 
veloped in the same, as evidence of the Presi- 
dent's action on it - - - - 3 

The author accused by the editors of the Globe 
with purloining said copy of Jackson's letter to 
Fulton ; for which libel ho institutes a suit 
against said editors - - - - 4 

Preparatory to the trial of said suit, (at November 
term, 1840,) the defendants procured the affi- 
davit uf Andrew Jackson, in plea of justifica- 
tion ; an official copy of which is here pub- 
lished - - - - - - 5 

The material allegations of which nefarious 
affidavit are discussed under three heads, (de- 



Pagp 
monstfaling the main allegation to be physi- 
cally impracticable and morally absurd, and 
the accessory ones to be in most respects as 
false,) viz : ..... 6 

1st. Of the guess or surmise of the affiant, 
assumed as the foundation of a pretended 
"belief" that the plaintiff purloined the said 
copy ... ... 7 

2d. Of certain false allegations (respecting two 
confidential letters that never existed) set 
forth as " reasons" to support the affiant's 
pretended " belief," founded on a guess - 9 
3d. Of other auxiliary "reasons" (respecting a 
proscription list) in many respects equally 
false, alleged also to support the saiu pre- 
tended " belief," founded on a guess - 11 
All of which going to show, that the affiant 
was probably the author of this foul calum- 
ny, which he obviously would never have 
thought of or uttered, had the plaintiff com- 
mended instead of censuring and exposing 
his connivance at Houston's conspiracy . 16 



APPENDIX. 



f_A.] The said original letter, addressed to the 
President, in December, 1630, respecting the 
Houston conspiracy, and returned to the Au- 
thor, in 1836, but designpdly kept out of view 
by the affiant in his aforesaid affidavit - 17 

[B.] The said copy of Jackson's letter to Fulton, 
purporting to be his action on the aforesaid let- 
ter, filed in the same as evidence thereof, (and 
accompanied it on delivery as above,) but de- 
signedly not so recognised" in said affidavit - 18 

[C] The said memorial of sundry citizens of 



Washington, to the President, accompanied 
with a list of charges, called its sequel, which 
the affiant falsely describes in every particu- 
lar in the aforesaid affidavit - . - 19 

[D.] The President's letter, by his Secretary, to 
the signers of the said memorial, showing that 
he declined acting on it and its sequel, as he 
falsely said he did in the aforesaid affidavit • 19 

Another Jackson affidavit, in the suit of the Post 
Office Department vs. the late Postmaster at 
New York, proved, in the court, to be false - 20 



SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES TO THIRD EDITION. 



Note [a.j gives further evidence of a standing 
request with the President's Secretary to re- 
turn the author's communications from time to 
time: in pursuance of which probably the 
aforesaid letter on Houston's conspiracy, and 
the President's action on it, were handed to 
him by the President's messenger, as he has 
invariably stated - - - - 25 

Note [6.] gives further illustration of the artifices 
of the affiant, deducible from his keeping out 
of view the fact, that the letter to Fulton was 
an aclLm on the plaintiff's letter of December, 

1830, aforesaid 26 

Note [c.j gives extracts from the correspondence 
between the Secretary of State and the British 
Minister, showing the verisimilitude between 
the agitations against Mexico and Canada re- 
spectively, and the contrast between the treat- 
ment each received from Jackson and Van 
Buren severally ... .28 

Note [d.] 
I. Fragments relative to proscription or rotation 
in office, (as previously spoken of in the text,) 
for which the Executive was responsible, as 
prescribing and adjudging the rule, but not 
those who, by request, assisted in collecting 
the desired information - - - 29 

U. Fragments relative to another list, (in 1833, 
called a memorial and sequel, as belore men- 
tioned,) regularly gotten up under the author- 
ity of the Executive, for which he was equal- 
ly responsible, but treacherously evaded it, 
by throwing it on the shoulders of those he 



had commissioned to prepare it, because it 
involved many of his own favorites, he uni- 
formly turnin?aDEAF ear to all representa- 
tions against them - - - - 30 

111. I V r . Fragments in confirmation of the above, 
relative to the incompetency of the heads of 
certain bureaus, and their mal-adminislra- 
tion, with their mischievous consequences, 
connived at by General Jackson— whereas, a 
correct administration of the intricate laws 
appertaining to those bureaus, calls for chan 
cellors learned in the law, to be placed at 
their head - - - . 35, 39 

V. VI. Fragments showing that the system of 
spoils on the Treasury under the pretence 
of rotation in office, were the " very errors «f 
the moon" which characterized the Jackson 
era ; tracing them back not only to the rush 
made upon the President by his partisan 
claimants of the spoils at his inauguration, 
but to the rejection of an eminent jurist and 
civilian as a justice of the Supreme Court, 
three months before, to reserve the spoils of 
the vacancy for Jackson's disposal - - 41 

VII. A sketch relative to the origin, objects, 
and explosion of the Central Hickory Club, 
put in operation here by Amos Kendall, as a 
party engine to elect Martin Van Buren and 
to destroy the institutions of the country, com- 
mencing with the United States Bank, and 
" to prosecute a work so well begun," by fa- 
vor of Jackson's popularity transferred to the 
arcli magician - - - . - 14 



so 



Page. 

VIII. Fragments of the results of investigations 
by the Senate's Committee on the Post Office 
Department, exposing its mal-administration 
and bankruptcy, according to the report of 
Mr. Clayton, 2d March, 1831 - - - 44 

IX. X. Fragments of the results of Mr. Ewing's 
first and second reports in behalf of a select 
committee of the -enate on the same Depart- 
ment, exposing its aggravated mal-adminis- 
tration under William' T.Barry, to June 9, 
1834 46.4S 

XI. Fragments of the results of the report of the 
select committee of the House of Represent- 
atives, on the same Department, during the 
same period, confirming the above, and de- 
tecting certain concealments from a former 
committee - - ... .51 

XII. A sketch of the results of investigations 
by the Senate's Committee on Public Lands, 
according to their report, read and ordered to 
be printed, 15th December, 1834, exposing 
manifold corruptions and frauds by receivers, 
registers, &c. • - - . - 53 

XIII. Extracts from Mr. Wise's report, made 
27th February, 1837, as a minority of the se- 
lect committee of the House of Representa- 
tives to whom was referred that portion of 
General Jackson's last annual message testi- 
fying to the ability and fidelity of the exec- 
utive departments during his administration, 
by which the President's veracity and integ- 



Page. 
rity are impugned, and usurpations of the 
most alarming character exposed - 54 

XIV. Fragments of the results of the report of 
the select committee of the House of Repre- 
sentatives appointed to investigate the Swart- 
wout and other defalcations, showing that, 
the spell of enchantment which the depraved 
popularity of Jackson and his arts of secrecy 
had thrown around the charnel-houses of the 
spoilsbcing now broken, his certificate of th° 
ability and the integrity of the Departments 
proves to have been a premeditated falsehood 
to stave off the detection of their dark deeds 
before his retirement from office - - 66 

Additional note, showing, by extracts from Du- 
ane's narrative respecting the removal of the de- 
posites, what were the clandestine influences of 
Kendall & Co., by which General Jackson had 
been actuated in that measure of unparalleled 
outrage, for purposes of individual speculation 
and factious domination, in defiance of all the 
patriotic counsel of the nation - - - 73 

In conclusion, the question i3 submitted : What 
degree of credibility is due to the partisan tes- 
timony of one who has been thus instrumental 
in such multifarious public wrongs, in whicli 
he has been obviously under the depraved in- 
fluence of the demon party spirit, and now 
more especially instigated by personal resent- 
ment towards the plaintiff, ami party devotion 
to his former organs, the defendants'! - - 78 



Erratum. 

The date of General Jackson's letter of the 26th of January, 1837, (page 55,) is, by inadvertence, printed 
1840. The error is, however, fully corrected by the context, independently of this notice. 



5^ The reader will doubtless perceive that the foregoing fragments of Jacksonism, in the form of sup 
plement to this refutation of Jackson's affidavit are not misplaced here. On the contrary, he will find, they 
are very pertinent to the occasion, to show the fraternity of most of General Jackson's official and personal 
wrong doings, where either the demon party spirit, ind'widua] favoritis?n, or personal resentment, exercise 
their wonted malign and depraved influence upon him. But, independently of the necessity of defending 
myself, by this enlarged range of testimony, against the calumnious attacks made on me for personal and 
party revenge, (though certainly not believed in by the fabricators thereof themselves, and therefore the 
more heinous,) the difficulties I have encountered, for want of pecuniary resources, as yet, to complete th« 
publication of "Eight years in Washington," have rendered it desirable to crowd these fraqments into this? 
pamphlet, to serve also as a temporary though imperfect substitute for the balance of that work. P.. M. 



Finis. 



PROSPECTUS 

OF 

AN EXPOSE OF THE CLANDESTINE INFLUENCES OVER JACKSON'S 

ADMINISTRATION. 



In the foregoing pages I have not paid those pointed respects to Mr. Van Buren, which 
his merits in the premises entitled him to receive at my hands. In threading the niazy 
labyrinth of public documents immediately connected with the object of demonstrating tin 
fraternity that subsists between the calumny there exposed, and that system of defamatior 
practised by the myrmidons of executive power towards all who stand in the way of tht'L 
ambitious designs, or expose their official corruptions, it was deemed foreign to the matter 
in hand, to go into the details that would trace their origin in chief to Mr. Van Buren. It 
is, nevertheless, manifest that the time is not far distant, when public opinion will hold 
that prince of destructives reponsible for a large portion of those clandestine influences by 
which General Jackson was induced to forfeit all his pledges of an economical and republican 
administration. Facts and developments that are daily coming to light, or assuming an 
impoitance that was not at first appreciated, are rapidly settling public conviction to that 
effect. Mr. Duane's narrative has fully demonstrated the clandestine operations of Amos 
Kendall, personally, in instigating General Jackson's seizure of the public treasure; but it 
yet remains to be shown that Martin Van Buren was the prime mover of all those mis- 
chievous experiments by which the country has been brought into the premature decrepitude 
of universal bankruptcy. A critical research into his clandestine agency in these malign 
measures of anti-national, anti-American, anti-republican policy, shall be the purpose of 
another sheet shortly to be issued from the press. I need not say the subject is as ample, as 
it is interesting : and I am equally sanguine that the -results will in some measure disen- 
cumber the waning fame of Andrew Jackson from a portion of the immense burden of 
public odium that weighs it to the earth, and will consign his evil instigators to a still 
deeper abyss of infamy, in proportion as it shall be made appear that their designs were as 
selfish and anti-patriotic as they were M clandestine and unknown to the constitu- 
tion ! !" 

To satisfy the whole Amebican People, by proof as strong as holy writ, that a 
malign and clandestine influence was exercised over Jackson's Administration by a selfish 
faction, headed by the arch magician, in order to ensure his election to the Presidency, 
with the ulterior design of accomplishing a civil revolution in subverting the republican 
institutions bequeathed us by the blood of our patiotic forefathers, will surely awaken all 
good citizens from their supine reliance in the traitors to whom they have entrusted the 
affairs of the nation, and stimulate a united people to the rescue, at the last gasp op 
the Constitution, THE EXPIRING STRUGGLE OF THE REPUBLIC !! 

The pboop exists and shale be pobthcomino— OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 
SHALL THEY BE CONVICTED! 

(£/• Orders for this " Expose of the Clandestine Influence over Jackson's Administra- 
tion," will be supplied at #2 50 per hundred. 

ROBERT MAYO. 

Washington, May, 1840. 













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